


Nobody Hurts Him But Me

by GlitterSkullFairy



Series: Unexpected Satanists [5]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: (of course), Awkward Romance, Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Dating, David has feelings, Dom/sub, Family Feels, Feels, Fluff, Kidnapping, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Semi-Public Sex, Sex, Smut, Sort Of, Telepathic Sex, Threesome - F/M/M, Voyeurism, chloe has feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:40:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 50,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22828822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterSkullFairy/pseuds/GlitterSkullFairy
Summary: Chloe and Dan are working out how to share a Devil.Everybody loves Dan.A wild plot appears, sending our budding romance into a state of confusion.
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Dan Espinoza/Lucifer Morningstar, Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Dan Espinoza/Lucifer Morningstar, Dan Espinoza/Original Character(s)
Series: Unexpected Satanists [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1412998
Comments: 251
Kudos: 182





	1. How was your weekend?

**Author's Note:**

> Ha-ha! Look I got you an early present. Surprise!  
> My regular posting schedule resumes tomorrow.  
> Told you there'd be more.  
> If you want to know more of what's coming, some of it's in the tags. There will be a plot element, but there's some relationship stuff going on first.

Chloe watched Lucifer and Dan come down the stairs side by side. They weren't quite holding hands, but they were walking very close together, Dan's shoulder tucked in just behind Lucifer's in an act of submission that may or may not have been a conscious decision. They were both smiling like idiots.

Lucifer walked straight up to her desk and Dan followed for no apparent reason other than he didn't want to be anywhere else. 

"Good morning, Detective." 

She wanted to leap up, hold him, kiss him into the middle of next week but she didn't. There were good reasons not to do that at work, though she was struggling to remember what they all were right now. Oh, how she'd missed him. 

"How was your weekend?" she asked, a picture of innocence. The look the two men gave each other a look that made it all seem worth it. Was Lucifer actually blushing? "Wow. That good? Dan, you've achieved the impossible and rendered Lucifer speechless. What did you do? Actually no, that's a story for later. Much later."

Dan smiled. "Yeah, not one for work. How was yours? Trixie enjoy her coffee?"

"Yeah, she did. We both had a great time. She's gonna go round to Linda's place for a sleepover on Thursday so we can all have our date."

"Look, Chloe, I appreciate the invite, but if you want to spend some time and catch up with Lucifer-"

"Don't start that. You won't be intruding, I want you to come. Besides, I'm pretty sure me and Lucifer are going to be all caught up by the end of tonight."

"Ooh, Detective! Aren't I a lucky Devil?"

"Yes, love. Are you gonna be a busy one too? Or do I have to finish all the paperwork for the college case myself?"

"Of course not. Daniel? Help the Detective."

"He's got his own work to do."

"Actually, I cleared most of mine last week. Didn't want anything hanging over me at the weekend."

"See? My servant is all yours."

Dan lowered his eyes and tried to hide the blushing smile that crept across his face. It was strangely adorable. 

***

Dan checked his phone in the car on the way to Linda's office.

_So how was your weekend?_

David. Of course.

_Totally epic. I hurt everywhere._

_Awesome. I take it that means you won't be available for a while?_

_Actually he's catching up with Chloe tonight. Do you want to hang out?_

…  
_Is it me or am I getting even more action now you're seeing someone else?_

_It's not you. He has a good effect on my libido._

_No kidding. I'm not complaining. He doesn't mind?_

_He hasn't said he's changed his mind but I'll ask him._

"Hey, Lucifer?"

"Yes, gorgeous?"

Dan was momentarily stunned by the endearment, but recovered quickly. "Would you have any objections to me seeing David tonight?"

There was a pause when Dan wondered if he was going to say no. "Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Not entirely," Dan admitted. "But I kind of want to show off what you did to me, with someone who understands and won't judge."

Lucifer smiled. "I've no objections to that. And I’ll be happier knowing you’re not alone in case you drop again. But..."

“I sensed your but.”

That got a grin. “That’s better. A pun with added innuendo. How much are you going to tell him?”

"I imagine he’ll want to hear some kind of story. I can keep it basic. Tell him how incredible you were- not that I need to exaggerate that. Avoid your personal stuff, which obviously I'm not going to go there."

"Obviously. But for me, that includes anything to do with my other face. The way that we… you know."

"Made love?"

"Yes. Like I said at the time, it was a unique experience. You can shag David as much as you like, but I'd like to keep our most intimate moments between us."

"Me too, actually. Hey, what about Chloe?"

"What about her?"

"Isn't she a part of this? Should we talk to her about that stuff?"

"Fair question. Not sure if I have an answer yet."

"Then I'll keep quiet about it until you do."

"Do you have any objections to her knowing about anything?"

Dan squirmed. "I'm kinda used to you reporting stuff back to her. And I certainly don't want you to keep secrets. If she wants to know, you can tell her as much as you think is right."

"Right. Send David my regards. Tell him he's got you on loan, but you're still mine."

Dan did exactly that.

***

"Hi Dan, this is a nice surprise!" Linda greeted him. "Good afternoon Lucifer. How was your weekend?"

"Very good, actually. We had ridiculous amounts of sex, even by my standards."

Dan swallowed and blushed, but Linda took it all in stride. She'd been handling this for years. She gestured to the couch and sat opposite them.

"It's good that you're fully embracing this new aspect of your relationship. Is that what you're both here to discuss?"

"No, actually. Our relationship seems to be progressing beautifully. But in between orgasms we talked, and something came up that Daniel said was significant and insisted that I share it with you. He's here as moral support because it's not a topic I'm fond of discussing, but he's under strict instructions not to speak, just observe and look pretty." He gazed happily at Dan as he finished speaking.

Linda turned to Dan. "And you're all okay with that."

He smiled and nodded silently.

"See? He's such a good boy," Lucifer said and laid a hand on his knee. Dan's smile broadened and his blush deepened.

"Okay, but we're unpacking that later. What was it you wanted to discuss?"

"My Fall."

Linda's demeanour changed instantly. She sobered, the verbal sparring replaced by a cool but soft professionalism. "I'm listening."

"Daniel asked me how old I was, when it happened. In terms of my maturity, obviously, because time means different things in the celestial realm."

"And you weren't exactly children, because you came into being fully grown."

"Physically, no, we weren't children. Intellectually, we had a certain degree of knowledge. But in terms of experience, feelings, how we related to our parents and each other, we still had to learn and grow. And I never thought about it in those terms, but then he asked me to compare maturity with other humans." He paused.

"And that gave you a new frame of reference."

"Yes." His voice was unusually quiet.

"Lucifer, how old were you when you fell? In human terms?"

He leaned his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers. "Not more than twelve. Maybe less, it's hard to be sure."

Dan's eyes flicked from Lucifer to Linda, and he saw her blink rapidly as she had to fight for a moment to maintain her neutral expression. But that was the only indication she gave.

"That's very young to be forced out of your home."

"Yes." Another pause.

"You've never told me what happened." 

Hell, she was good. Not a direct question to send him skittering away, not a suggestion that she had any way of sympathizing that he could take umbrage at, but a simple statement to lead him toward a painful memory and see if he would voluntarily follow.

"It's too huge to tell the whole thing at once. I don't want to talk about Dad today. I've had a wonderful time this weekend and I don't want to tarnish it with any thoughts of Him." He looked down and up again. "But I can tell you what Hell was like, at first, when I finally crawled out of the Lake of Fire."

"I think it shows progress that you feel ready to talk about it. And I'm here to listen."

Lucifer sat back, reached for Dan's hand, and stared at their interlocked fingers. "It was just me and the demons at first. Not like Maze- these ones were purebred, pure monsters. The behemoths and the leviathans. Huge serpents with legs and wings. Oversized insects with too many limbs. Hissing and snapping and chittering. At first, they mistook me for a snack. I tried to run away, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. There weren't any doors or cells yet. Or maybe the whole thing was one enormous cell, and Hell was feeding on me, creating my own nightmares. In the end I was so exhausted I just turned around, flared my wings and roared back at them. They paused long enough for me to attack one and rip its head off. The rest cowered in the face of my wrath. I made myself their king. 

"Lilith arrived some time later. Not dead, but sent straight from Eden for some misdemeanor or other. Her sanity didn't last long. She wanted me to… well, she kept insisting I was Adam and it was what she was made for. But I couldn't bear to be near her. She went after the pure demons instead. That's how Maze and all her siblings were born. Lilith bred multitudes. She didn't seem to be able to stop herself. Hell changed, shifting under the weight of the new population, redesigning itself into a labyrinth of pillars and corridors to frustrate the hordes. They fought for everything, for nothing. Until Abel arrived, there was nothing else to do."

"But, between Lilith and Abel, you met Eve?"

"Yes. Lilith was getting loud, so I went wandering and found a crack where I could escape back to Earth for a while. Eve was… Well, you know Eve. All innocence and light even when she's being downright filthy. But she wasn't happy, even in Paradise. We found some solace in each other while it lasted. Until Dad realised what was going on and… Well. We're all familiar with that story. So He spoke, and Amenadiel took me back. And again and again… and again. 

"And then there were the humans. The souls of the damned. Just appearing out of nowhere. Only a few at first, but the numbers kept growing. It kept the demons busy, which made things a bit easier in some ways, but Hell evolved around them too, built their cells, made them relive their sins in endless loops. And the torture. It took me a while to become accustomed to it."

"You had to torture people personally?"

Lucifer’s eyes fixed on the coffee table. "Yes."

The silence stretched out. Dan took a few slow breaths, grateful that he had been forbidden to speak otherwise he would have blurted out something entirely inappropriate. He had to trust the process, trust Linda.

"I _had_ to. Clearly that was the point of Hell, wasn't it? Why I'd been sent there? Why everyone else had been sent there? A place to punish the guilty. He had it figured out from the very beginning. We were His garbage dump, where He tossed all the rubbish that couldn't live up to His standards. The more I saw of humanity, the things they did to each other, the more I realised that they all deserved to be there. So I helped punish them."

"Did everyone in Hell deserve to be there?"

He met Linda’s steady gaze. "Yes. All of them. They were liars and thieves and murderers, full of spite and hatred."

"But you were there too. And you didn't lie, or steal or murder. What was your crime?"

"I rebelled against Dad!"

"How? What did you actually do? What sin was so terrible that it could warrant sending a child into a place like that?"

Lucifer's grip tightened, and Dan held his breath against the pain.

"I wanted to choose my own path. That's all. I wanted to wander the earth, discover it, taste it. Heaven never quite felt like it fit me. I had desires I couldn't name, songs that needed to be sung even though I didn't yet know the tune. But you don't get to question Dad. You don't get to tell Him that He might have made a mistake. And clearly He didn't, because He had a plan. A plan to make me all that I am, so that I would be destined to rebel, to be thrown out, to become the jail keeper for sinners."

Dan gasped and hissed, wiggling his thumb to tap Lucifer's hand three times.

Lucifer looked down and quickly let go. "I've hurt you. Talk to me, love."

"I'm okay," he breathed, rubbing his palm. "You stopped before you broke anything. I'll just add it to the list of bruises."

Linda watched them both intently.

"No, love, it's not okay. Hurting you because I lost control is never okay. You should have spoken sooner."

"If it happens again, I will. Shall we get back on topic?"

"I seem to have deviated from the course anyway. No more talk of Him today."

"You're going to have to talk about it sometime."

"I know. But not yet. Clearly I'm not yet capable of thinking clearly on the subject. I've said more than I came here to say already."

"You've taken a big step today, Lucifer," Linda told him. "This is great progress. I can see that something's changed."

"It has." He stroked Dan's knee again. "May I tell her?"

"You mean, about the stuff we talked about in the car? The intimate moments?"

"Dan, you should know that anything that's said here will be kept entirely between us. And I'm not going to make any judgements. This is all done to help Lucifer."

"Then I guess it's okay, right? I mean, I want to help him too."

"Thank you. Lucifer?"

Lucifer blinked. His eyes were shining. "He loves me. No more than the Detective, but it's different. I've already told you about before, how he let me hurt him. We explored that aspect of our relationship quite thoroughly. And it was even more enjoyable than before. More intimate."

Dan smiled at him, encouraging. "It was perfect and beautiful. I've never felt so completely loved."

"All right, don't get sappy, you'll embarrass the good Doctor."

"Right." He ran a hand over his face. "Sorry."

"It wasn't just that though. Remember how I looked when I came back from Hell?"

"The other face? The one that's a metaphor?"

"Yes. Dan asked to see me like that. He asked to hold me like that. We made love like that. Wild, violent love. And tender, passionate love. He sees all that I am, and all that I have been, and he loves all of it."

"You feel he accepts parts of you that Chloe can't?"

"He accepts parts of me Chloe can't see. Even after she found out who I was, she still sees the best in me. She loves me just as deeply, and she's proven that fact beyond any doubt. And that changed me too. But Daniel… he sees everything. And never once tried to run from it. He embraces it."

Linda sighed. "I'm happy for you. This is a good thing."

They all sat smiling awkwardly for a few moments. "Well, I think we've all been in quite the emotional roller coaster today, and even more surprising, Lucifer hasn't run out of my office prematurely. Dan, you're welcome to join us as often as Lucifer wants."

"Thanks."

"I think we're done for today. How about we let all that filter and settle, and we can pick it up next time."

"Lovely," Lucifer agreed. "But before I go, Doctor, I have a request. Would it be okay if Dan brought a friend along to Charlie's party? I made a deal that he could spend some time with me and my friends, and it seems like a good opportunity."

"Sure. More the merrier. And after today, how can I say no?"

"Splendid."

***

Linda completed her notes with professional detachment, picked up her bag, and quickly made her way home. Maze was sharpening blades on the dining table. Amenadiel walked out from the bedroom.

"You're home early. Charlie's just gone down for a nap. How was work?"

She stroked his arm and kissed his cheek. "Tough. Very tough today."

"Hey," Maze said, coming over. "I want some of that too."

Linda smiled and kissed her cheek as well. "So Maze, quick question. Is the Lake of Fire like a fun name, or is it like a literal lake of fire?"

"Literal. Well mostly. It's kinda like lava, except not made from rocks- more just really hot liquid fire. There are legends about Lucifer crawling out of there with his skin all burned off like a total badass."

"Maze, could you do me a favour?"

"Depends what it is."

"Punch Amenadiel in the face for me?"

Before he managed to get the first half of the word "what?" out his mouth, Maze's fist was there knocking him in the teeth. He drew a breath to shout, remembered the baby, and hissed instead. "What the Hell, Linda?"

"You kept taking him back!" she wailed, thumping his chest fruitlessly. "He was your little brother and you kept dragging him back to that awful place! And I know it's not just your fault, but I need to scream at somebody because it's all so fucking terrible and you're a convenient viable target!" And she burst into tears and he held her close while she sobbed it out. Maze stood behind her and stroked her hair idly.

“It’s all right. It’s okay now,” Amenadiel said quietly.

“No, it not!” Linda cried back, thumping his chest again. “It’s not okay! What happened to him was not okay at all, and people need to stop pretending that it was!”

“No, it wasn’t okay,” Maze agreed. “He suffered. But it made him so strong. And he’s happy now, even though Chloe’s turning him into a complete sap.”

Linda chuckled through her tears.

“I did what I thought was right at the time, Linda. But I’ve changed, and I helped him get out of there. He’s changed. He’s growing, and you’re a big part of that.”

“I know. I know. I deal with so much stuff in this job, and you kinda get used to it, but every once in a while, you hear something so terrible, and it hits you so hard. Today was one of those days. I failed to deal with it.”

“But you’re strong, Linda,” Maze told her. “You’re strong and your awesome. You take all this stuff from people who don’t even deserve you, and you carry it with them. And if anyone can do this, you can. You got this.”

Linda took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. “I do, don’t I? Especially with you guys to support me.” She smiled and straightened. 

“Hey, not so fast,” Maze said, stepping closer and putting her arms around them both so that Linda was trapped in the middle. “Baby’s sleeping. I want some of the good stuff.” She breathed in their combined scents and sighed. “This is it. This is better than popping out eyeballs.”

Linda chuckled. Coming from Maze, that was quite the compliment. “Hmmm. This is better than anything. Sorry about the punching thing.”

“That’s okay,” Amenadiel said. “She only got me because I wasn’t expecting it. I could still take her in a proper fight.”

Maze laughed. “That I’d like to see.”

“Not that I’m in any way encouraging violence, but can I watch?”

“Absolutely,” Amenadiel agreed.


	2. You're not a sub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer and Chloe catch up.

"Detective!" 

Chloe stopped with her car door open. "Lucifer. What's up?"

"I wanted to catch you before you left."

"I'm gonna see you at home in like, half an hour," she shrugged.

"Yes," he stepped close and put his arms around her. "But your daughter will be there and I've been waiting to kiss you all day."

She smiled and gave in to his request, hooking her hands behind his neck and going up on her toes as she quickly found herself wanting more.

"I missed you," she admitted.

"I missed you too." He kissed her again.

"Hmm. Weren't you busy with Dan?"

"Yes, but I still missed you. I'm glad I get to see you both at work at least. And I'm also looking forward to our date."

"Me too. And I'm looking forward to having you back in my bed tonight."

"Mmm. Do we have to wait?"

"Yes," she said, although the heat of his body pressed up to her own was tempting. "And it will be all the better for it." 

They kissed again, lingering a bit more, but then she pushed him back reluctantly. “Later. I promise. I gotta go or I’ll be late for Trixie.”

He kissed her once more on the forehead and stood aside, waving as she drove off.

Later, when dinner and chores were done, and Trixie had settled in her room for the night, Chloe took his hand and led him upstairs.

"So, I was thinking," she said as Lucifer closed the door. He walked up and started unbuttoning her shirt.

"Yes…"

"Before all of everything kicked off, there was a little conversation we had about trying something new."

Lucifer nipped light and playful at her neck. "Let's pretend I need a reminder. What do you want me to do?"

"Maybe the soft, vanilla version of your weekend? I'm just curious, you know?"

"You want me to spank you and see if you like it."

"I do. Is that okay? I mean, I'm pretty sure I can't go as far as Dan, but if it's something you enjoy, I'd like to try it."

"Darling, I've met professional subs who can't go as far as Dan. That man is a total pain slut, on both the physical and emotional level." The shirt fell to the floor.

"Wow. What did you do to him?"

"Do you really want to know?"

She gasped. "Yes. I really do."

He planted a line of kisses along the top edge of her bra as he spoke. "Bit him. Hit him with blunt objects. Whipped him. Literally dug my claws into him. And buggered him long and hard."

Her breath was coming fast. "How many times?"

"That I was up his arse? Or that he made me come? Because either way, I lost count."

"Fuck, Lucifer!"

He popped open her trousers and pushed them down past her hips. "Get on the bed. On all fours."

She crawled up awkwardly and got into position. Lucifer sank to his knees behind her and rubbed gentle circles on her naked bottom. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! Do it."

He raised his hand and came down fast. Not too hard, just enough to leave a nice pink mark on her cheek.

She yelped. It was more of a surprised sound than anything, so he tried again, a touch harder. 

Chloe stuffed her face against the pillow and made a garbled sound. Lucifer paused. "This isn't doing much for you, is it?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Really not." She lowered herself onto her belly. "Sorry."

"No need to apologise love, it's not for everyone."

She rolled onto her back and pulled him, still fully clothed, on top of her. "How about you try the biting thing instead."

Lucifer smiled and caught the skin of her neck between his teeth, gradually increasing the pressure until she hissed. Her body pushed back up into his. He let out a hum. "You like that, then."

"Yes. Not any harder than that though."

"I see."

"Do you want to try a claw?"

"If I do, I'll have to be extra careful. They're very sharp and I don't think you want to bleed."

"No, that would not be a turn on. Go gently then."

He changed one hand and ran it over her side. She squawked and giggled. Lucifer dropped his head. "This isn't going to work," he said kindly. "You're not a sub and nothing I can do will change that."

"I'm not?"

"Nope. For a start, you're far too bossy. And you clearly don't get any pleasure from the pain. But that's fine, you've worked hard to find the level of power and control you currently wield, and I don't think you should give it up for anyone else's sake. Besides, I never realised spanking can actually hurt your hand."

She laughed again, taking his hand and kissing it. "Ahh, poor Devil, did it sting?"

"Yes. Not a lot, but I certainly felt it."

She looked down and then up again, a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Get up take your clothes off."

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"Maybe. Does it involve your beautiful ass and my hairbrush?"

"Ooh Detective," he grinned, quickly shed his clothes and got on his hands and knees in the middle of the bed.

Chloe wiggled out her tight jeans. She picked up a wide, flat brush from her dresser and looked at him. "So, anything I need to know before I start?"

"I don't know. I've never been on the receiving end before. Well, not with anyone who could actually hurt me."

"What about Maze?"

"You know, she never asked, and I never offered. The power dynamics in our relationship were so strongly embedded in the other direction, I don't think either of us considered it."

"So maybe I should start off easy and work my way up?"

"I know how to handle pain, my darling. But if it isn't pleasant, I'll tell you to stop. Or I might say red."

"Okay. And remember to keep it quiet, the last thing we want is for Trixie to run in and check on us."

"Duly noted. When you're ready…"

She swung the brush over his rear end. He inhaled sharply and his back arched upward. "That was bracing. How was it for you?"

"Not sure. Can I do it again?"

"Yes please."

He dropped to his elbows and smothered his groan in the pillow. Chloe took a deep breath and raised her arm again. She could see he liked it. She was surprised by how much she liked it too. It was akin to the rush of adrenaline she got from pointing a gun at someone, but different. Personal.

Lucifer shifted his hips, teasing.

_Intimate._

"Lucifer?" she asked, her voice quiet but stern.

"Yes," he gasped. "Keep going."

She brought the brush down harder this time, her confidence increasing. He was right, it did feel powerful. She felt strong, and she could see the effect she was having on him. She could see his skin flush with bright pink bruises. _I did that. I'm the only human being who can do that. Because he loves me. Because he lets his guard down to care for me._

The thought gave the whole experience an added layer of meaning. Lucifer was giving her complete control over his feelings, his body, his very being. She felt a rush and swung again, grunting with the effort, and watched his spine curl and heard him moan. She ran gentle fingers over the marks she'd left, soothing and caring.

"Detective…" he was panting.

"Lucifer, I love you. Will you let me carry on?"

"So this is good for you too?"

"Hell, yes. I like making you squirm."

"Hnngh. Far be it from me to keep you from fulfilling your desires."

She looked at him, taking in his long, masculine form, his lines and curves and angles. An idea hit her. "Wait right there, I need something." She pulled open a drawer and rummaged around the back of it. "Ah-ha!" 

Chloe sat back on the bed near his head. "Look at me."

"What's that?"

"One of Dan's old ties."

"It's hideous. Why do you still have it?"

"To prevent him from embarrassing himself by actually wearing it."

"There's a time and a place for paisley, but that's not it. Why not just throw it away?"

"He wore it when he proposed."

"And you still said yes?"

She ignored the jibe. "I want to use it to tie your hands to the headboard."

"Can't you just use your handcuffs?"

"They're downstairs. Besides, I know you can wiggle out of them."

"I can wiggle out that thing even more easily."

"Yes, but you won't. I want you to promise me you'll keep this in place until I give you permission to take it off."

"Detective!" he purred. "So masterful, I like it. I promise to stay like a good Devil."

She looped it around his wrists and secured it to the bed frame. She gave him several more swats with the brush, relishing the way he winced and wiggled, and then looked around for something else to try hitting him with. She tried a plastic ruler, and although it made a very satisfying snapping sound, his responses weren't as strong.

Her eyes fell on his trousers where they lay beside the bed. For once he'd been in too much of a hurry to worry about folding them. She picked them up and pulled out his belt, making enough noise so he could hear exactly what she was doing. "Am I about to do a very bad thing?" she asked softly, and folded the belt in half and snapped it against itself.

"Oh, bloody Hell, love! Yes. And I totally deserve it, so please, do your worst."

With both ends in one hand it was easier to hold and aim. She took a moment to focus and then flicked it quickly towards his arse. He winced but she hadn't quite got the angle right for maximum impact. She adjusted her position and tried again. This time he shuddered properly. It made a lovely white stripe on his skin that quickly turned red. _No one else has ever done this to him. Just me._

Lucifer had done _everything._ Chloe had resigned herself early on to the fact that she was never going to be able to offer him new experiences. And yet here he was, ass in the air, squirming as they discovered something new together. 

She hit him again, and then again, her body buzzing with the exertion and unexpected arousal. A few more and he was growling into the pillow.

"Wait!" he called.

Suddenly she worried. "Are you okay? Was that too much?"

"Only in the sense that if you keep going, I'm not going to be able to stay quiet."

Chloe moaned and dropped down next to him, curling her limbs around him and kissing him. He twisted his neck to kiss back, and she pushed his shoulders to make him roll over. Once he had shuffled onto his back she climbed on top of him. 

"Condom," he reminded her.

"Crap. Almost forgot."

"You'll have to do the honours," he pointed out. 

Chloe grabbed one from beside the bed and slid it on him. "Maybe we should just get Dan to move into Maze's old room and then we'll never have to worry about it."

"That's the second time you've brought up your ex. Something I should know?"

"Nothing bad. We can talk about it later. Right now…" she guided him inside her. His hips rose up to push deeper and she moaned. "Fuck that's good. I missed you."

"Kiss me," he pleaded.

She bent forward and pressed her mouth to his eagerly, and he began to move. He knew her body so well, even with his hands bound he curled and undulated in ways that made her quiver and need. She rested her hands on his chest and let him work his magic. 

Every thrust pressed into the right places, and dragged delightfully as he pulled back. He kept making tiny variations, adjusting the speed and tilting the angle to keep bringing her higher. She came quietly, but her body convulsed hard and he must have felt it. He moved faster after that, seeking his own release. In a moment of inspiration she grabbed both his nipples and pinched them hard. He made a strangled sound and pumped wildly. She squeezed again and he buried himself deep and came. She watched his face change, watched his body tighten and then let go, heard him gasp and the breath slowly leave his body.

He closed his eyes and she settled down on his chest to kiss him again. They melted together, satisfied and close.

"I get it now," she said.

"You do play the role remarkably well."

"Thank you. But it was easy. The way that you gave yourself to me, it was so intimate. And I'm not saying it's something I want to do all the time, or that it unleashed my inner demon, but I get it, and I enjoyed it."

"I'm glad. Can I move my hands now?"

"Yes."

He untangled his wrists quickly and put his arms around her. "Why did we never try that before?"

"Because I don't think I would have been ready for it until now. You've changed my mind about a lot of things."

"I just want you to be free to follow your desires."

"I don't think this is ever something I wanted for myself. But it's different with you. And if you do want to do it again, once in a while, I think I'd like it."

"I'd be very happy to oblige. You do things to me no one else can. It was a very intense kind of pleasure, and I'd like to explore it more with you."

"Then we will. Some time when Dan has Trixie for the weekend, we can go to your place, and you can teach me."

"Hmmm. Excellent idea. But about Dan…"

"He's my ex, but he's also your boyfriend. And I'm okay with that."

"But you keep bringing him up. You could have chosen any number of things to restrain me, but you chose his hideous old tie. It makes me wonder why."

Chloe shifted to look up at his face. "Because he's a part of this, and I don't want to fight it, I want to embrace it."

Lucifer looked at her curiously. "The question is, do you want to embrace _him?"_

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, my love, are your romantic or sexual feelings for him returning?"

"I… I love you."

"So? I love both of you. I'm not going to be upset or jealous if you find yourself attracted to him again, especially as I'm the one who arranged for you to see each other naked."

"Okay. So maybe. A little. But I think it's more the idea of the two of you together that's a turn on."

Lucifer smiled and kissed her. "That's good news for me. It means I might get to see more of both of you together."

"I don't want this to be two different relationships. I want it to be one relationship with three people. All of us in it together. Not that me and Dan have to be a thing, necessarily, but we do need to be able to relate to each other on a very intimate level."

"Necessarily? So you're not ruling out the possibility of things developing between you?"

"Is that bad?"

"No love. It's good. It's very, very good. I just want us all to be happy." He kissed her. "And if Daniel were anywhere near right now, I'd be up for more sex, but you'll have to settle for cuddling instead."

She snuggled into his shoulder. "I'm perfectly happy with that option too."


	3. A single red rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer takes his partners out to dinner.

Lucifer insisted on picking his partners up for their date. He collected Dan from his apartment first, coming in briefly to check him over and present him with a bunch of roses in a riot of warm colours, dotted here and there with white. 

"Wow," Dan took the bouquet with one hand as he held out a single red rose in the other. "Suddenly this seems insignificant."

Lucifer accepted the gift and held it to his nose to catch the scent. "On the contrary. A single red rose speaks of love, romance, and deep devotion. It fits us well."

Dan felt a rush at the praise for his choice. "I should find something to keep these in. I don't even know if I have a vase."

He went to the kitchen and found a jug on top of the cupboard. He filled it with water while Lucifer leaned on the wall to watch, still sniffing his own rose. "I think I'll keep this one. If you hang them upside down, you can dry them out and they last for years."

Dan paused with his flowers over the jug. "Should I do that with these?"

"No, you carry on. Those ones want to bloom and brighten your home for a time."

Dan arranged them as best he could and set them on the middle of the table. "Thank you, Master."

"Now, I want to ask about that. I know it's not the Penthouse, but it is date night. How do you feel about giving me complete control?" Lucifer held out a hand and Dan stepped up to him and took it.

"You mean like, doing the sub and Dom thing?"

"Yes. Even at work, I know I'm your Master, but it's different, more subtle. I would like to see you choose to obey me explicitly, to show how much you trust me."

"Okay."

Lucifer frowned.

"I mean, yes Master."

"Lovely. Now come closer and give me a proper snog." 

Dan obeyed eagerly. The kiss quickly escalated into groping and grinding. 

"Careful," Dan warned. "Don't want to make a mess of your tux before we even get in the car."

Lucifer growled softly. "I could just make you swallow it all."

"You could, but then we might be late picking up Chloe."

"True." He took another taste of Dan's lips and stepped back. "I've got you rumpled already. Let me straighten your tie."

Dan smirked. "What do you even know about ties? You never wear one."

"Never underestimate any of my talents," Lucifer said as his fingers worked the knot, and then stroked down Dan’s silk-edged lapels. The suit and tie were black, the shirt peering out from under the waistcoat a pale lavender with pintuck detailing. All Lucifer's choice, of course, and paid for out of his seemingly bottomless pockets. Dan had argued at first, but Lucifer had ordered him to shut up, and explained that by wearing clothes his Master had chosen and bought as an expression of love, Dan would be showing his willing submission. It made it impossible to object after that, and so much more enjoyable. "There. You look perfect."

"I feel perfect." Dan pulled his face closer for one more kiss. "And so do you."

The was a fucking limo waiting outside.

"Oh my Satan, you gotta be kidding me."

"Well, I couldn't quite fit both of you in the Corvette," Lucifer said, his voice serious but his eyes twinkling with mirth. "And this way I can sit in the back with you. We could even hold hands." He held open the door. “Or other parts.”

“You’re incorrigible,” Dan said, getting in.

“So?”

“So if you don’t stop, we won’t be looking perfect for long.”

The red rose was placed carefully in a safe alcove and Lucifer spent the journey to Chloe’s house proving Dan wrong just because he could. He straddled his lap and lightly cradled his jaw and kissed him without getting a single hair out of place. 

Dan had to take a minute before he was calm enough to make his way to the front door. Lucifer walked straight in and Dan followed.

"Detective! We're here!"

Chloe walked down the stairs, a perfect vision. Technically speaking, what she was wearing could have been considered a little black dress, but it was covered by a long, flared coat made of delicate lace. Her hair hung in loose curls and a silver star pendant decorated her throat.

"Wow!" Dan breathed, while Lucifer smiled proudly.

"You look perfectly beautiful my love." He took her hand and kissed it. 

"And I have two dashing gentlemen bringing me flowers!"

The bouquet Lucifer handed her was a huge bunch of red roses. Dan felt small as he handed her a single yellow rose, but she smiled as if the two gifts made her equally happy. 

"Are we going straight out or would anyone like a drink first?" she asked as she set the flowers in a vase, placing the yellow one in the centre of the others.

"We have time before our reservation. And there's a matter I'd like you both to consider before the evening progresses."

"I'm intrigued." Chloe took three glasses from the cupboard and filled them each with a measure from a bottle she usually reserved for Lucifer.

"I want to take you both home with me tonight. And I need to be sure that we are all agreed on expectations. I don't want to ruin the mood later on by accidentally crossing anyone's boundaries."

Dan picked up a glass. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"He's talking about sex, obviously," Chloe explained. "I'm guessing he wants to know if we want to screw each other."

"That's the big question, yes," Lucifer smiled. "I'm fairly certain I know the answer but let's not take anything for granted."

Chloe looked at Dan, and he looked back silently. 

"It's complicated," she admitted. "I'm not against the idea completely, though. Dan?"

He moistened his lips thoughtfully before he spoke. "Part of me wants to. But I'm not sure if we're quite there yet. There's so much history and that's not something I can just ignore." He turned back to Lucifer. "This is all still very new. And right now I just wanna focus on you. Chloe's a part of the package, and I'm happy to share and… do stuff all together like we did before… but I'm not ready to… for lack of a more grown up term, go all the way." He took a gulp of whisky and felt it warm his throat. "I'm sorry if that's not the answer you were hoping for."

"It's an honest answer. That's what matters," Lucifer assured him. "I'm grateful."

Chloe sipped her drink and fought an unexpected wave of disappointment. _Crap._ She thought all those feelings were long gone, that the divorce had closed that chapter. But seeing him with Lucifer stirred things up, and she was starting to remember some of the things she loved about him, and see new things that appealed to her in other ways. He'd changed, and she liked the man he had become.

But he was also Lucifer's. Completely, wholeheartedly, utterly head over heels in love with his Master. And nothing she could do could come close to that bond. 

So she smiled and nodded, and told herself to stop being greedy, and be grateful for all the amazing things she did have. She looked at Lucifer, and her heart still swelled in her chest. She determined that she would enjoy the night.

It turned out to be easy. Lucifer sat between them in the limo, a hand resting on each thigh, and a grin like all his Christmases had come at once. Except Lucifer probably didn't do Christmas.

A waiter led them to a round table. Lucifer ordered a specific wine and the waiter went to get it while they made their choices. As soon as he was gone, Lucifer took the menu from Dan. "You'll eat whatever I tell you," he said.

"Yes, Dark Lord."

Chloe pressed her lips together in an effort not to grin and kept her eyes on the menu. Half the choices were written in French, things that Dan would probably have considered too fancy anyway. The waiter soon returned, with a very fine bottle of red, and politely took their order.

Dan looked at his glass, and then at Lucifer, and waited for a small nod before he took a sip. It tasted expensive, in a good way. He decided to take it easy.

"So Dan," Chloe said, sipping her wine happily, "how did you like my movie?"

He gulped and blushed and looked adorably awkward. "Um, yeah, it was really good."

"It's okay. I'm well aware of what Lucifer likes to do when he watches it. And I'm okay with that."

Dan's eyes went sideways to Lucifer again, wondering how much to say. 

"It's her film, Daniel. I've no objections to you telling her."

"I, uh, helped him with that," he said with a smile.

"And?" Lucifer prompted.

"And he helped me. And I lasted about twenty minutes in."

Chloe rolled her eyes, but she looked happy. "So you both did that thing? Well at least my younger self got your attention."

"Chlo, you were amazing. Parts of that movie were excruciatingly bad, but you were brilliant and gorgeous. And you're still gorgeous, even more so because you're the mother of my child."

"Not to mention smart, resilient, confident," Lucifer added, "courageous, tenacious, understanding, passionate-"

"Okay, stop!" she interrupted. "Before my head gets as big as Lucifer's."

"I do have a wonderfully large head," he smirked.

"A fact of which I am now intimately aware," Dan said.

Chloe's eyes flicked between the two of them, her mind supplying images that made her skin feel suddenly very warm.

"Are you picturing us together, Detective?"

"Maybe."

"You like the idea, don't you?" he purred. "If you want, we could give you a demonstration later."

A small, hungry sound escaped her throat.

He turned to Dan. "You don't mind an audience of one, do you love?"

"I'll do whatever you tell me," he answered.

"Can I ask about that?" Chloe said. "Or is it too personal?"

"It's personal, but given our situation I don't think I mind. We're all getting very personal and I think it would be good for you to understand. What do you want to know?"

"Like- does it always apply? Do you have to do everything he says all the time?"

"I don't _have_ to, but I choose to. Most of the time."

"What if it's something you don't want to do?"

"Then we talk about it. And sometimes I might change my mind. Actually…" his eyes went up as he thought, "so far I can't think of a time I haven't said yes in the end. And even the stuff that I was reluctant to do at first, has been fun, or educational. I trust Lucifer would never order me to do something that would hurt me."

"Of course not," Lucifer said. "That's why I asked that question about boundaries earlier."

"And you like telling him what to do?"

"I like the feeling I get when he obeys, knowing that he trusts me, that he wants to please me. It's even better when I know it's something he's reluctant to do, but he does it just to please me- especially if he finds that I was right and he enjoys it. I like making him do things that bring him pleasure."

"And is it always sexual?"

"No, not always," Dan said. "I mean, I chose to serve before there was anything sexy or even romantic going on. But it's always intimate. And that can be sexy without being sexual."

"How do you mean?"

"Let me give you an example," Lucifer said. "Daniel brings coffee to work every morning, and when he does, I know it's an act of service that shows he loves me, and that pleases me, but it doesn't give me a hard on. Conversely, I asked Daniel to make me dinner last weekend. I didn't tell him what he was making, but I gave him step by step instructions. He obeyed perfectly, and the result was delicious. It was a very effective form of foreplay, even without touching."

"Oh yeah!" Dan nodded and sipped his wine.

Chloe bit her lip. "So this now, with Lucifer choosing your food, does that make you horny?"

Dan made a non-committal noise.

"Answer the Detective, Daniel."

"Yes. But then again just being near Lucifer makes me horny."

"Even while you're at work?"

"It's not been easy, but I manage. I'm hoping it settles down at some point. You must have had a similar thing when you first started dating?"

She looked at Lucifer, who leaned on steepled hands in anticipation of her answer.

"Yes," she admitted. "I thought several times about dragging him into a closet, but I managed to control myself. It settled into a low level background buzz that meant I could think about other things after a while, but I still… you know."

"You still desire me?" he grinned.

"Yes. I like feeling close to you. And the sex is incredible, obviously."

"Obviously," Lucifer agreed.

"Obviously," Dan echoed.

They all laughed, and quietened as the food arrived. It was the kind of food that sat artfully in the centre of the plate, with a delicate garnish and a flourish of sauce. Dan wasn't even sure he knew the names of some of the things in front of him. He waited for another nod of permission before he began. It came only after Lucifer and Chloe had taken their first bites and expressed their pleasure. When he did taste it, he found it much to his liking. Lucifer had chosen well.

"Thank you again for the roses," Chloe said between bites. "Did you plan it between you?"

"No, the fact that they made a giant boob was purely serendipitous," Lucifer said.

"Giant boob?" Dan coughed.

"Did you not notice? With the yellow one in the middle like a pert nipple."

"I knew as soon as I put it there that you'd think that."

"At least mine doesn't look like a giant boob. Unless there's some other hidden meaning in there that I'm missing."

"Yours?" Chloe prompted.

"Yeah. Lucifer bought me a bunch of roses too. It wasn't as big as yours, but it had more colours." He sounded smug about that.

"But you gave the Detective a yellow rose, surely you understand the significance?"

Dan have a half shrug. "I just told the lady in the store who they were for and went with what she recommended."

Lucifer looked stunned. 

"Wait, you bought him one too?"

"Yeah. A red one. That's romantic. I know that much."

"Any idiot knows that much, Daniel. Allow me to educate you. Red: romance, desire, respect, devotion." He ticked each item off on his fingers. "I gave the Detective precisely two dozen, to show that she still holds a permanent place in my heart and I think about her every hour of the day, even though I'm also with you."

"That's beautiful!" Chloe said. "And it makes me appreciate it even more."

"I'm not finished. A single yellow rose used to mean jealousy- but I hope that's not the case here."

Dan shook his head, but Lucifer went on.

"Nowadays it's mostly used for friendship, gratitude, showing you care about someone, a desire to set past mistakes behind you."

"Yep," Dan nodded. "All that."

"In your bouquet, there are red for love and romance, dark pink for gratitude for all that you've given me, white to celebrate a new beginning- please don't mistake them for purity in this instance- and orange for passion and desire, and to show that I'm proud of you."

"Wow," Dan said softly. "My Dark Lord, thank you."

"I never knew roses were so complicated," Chloe admitted. "It's like a whole other language."

"Indeed. And as you know, I'm fluent in every language."

"It's fascinating. What else can they say?"

Lucifer spent the rest of the main course explaining the different colours and nuances, how a different number of blooms could change the meaning, and that the language could be extended by adding other types of flowers, and his two lovers sat enraptured. It was like a secret code. And his voice was so musical, and his demeanour so animated as he expounded on a topic about which he clearly cared. The waiter made sure they always had plenty of wine. They sat back as their empty plates were collected, and then dessert was brought. 

"It's pudding!" Dan grinned. "You ordered me really fancy pudding. Thank you, Master."

"I know your simple pleasures, love. And you've earned it this week. I know you weren't comfortable at the tailors, but you behaved admirably. The man was being a whiny sop about me asking him to rush the adjustments, but he's just too good and he knows it."

"It does feel incredible though."

"It looks incredible too," Chloe noted. "Do I even want to know how much that thing cost?"

"No, you do not. And neither does Daniel, or he'll never wear it again."

"You've been dating less than a month and you're already letting him buy you clothes? It's a slippery slope Dan."

"Says the woman who requested a date for three at a fancy restaurant. Because I have a feeling the wine we've been drinking alone would add up to more than my suit."

They both looked at Lucifer. "I'm not telling, so don't even try. But don't worry, it barely puts a dent in my funds."

"It's all part of the obedience thing, though," Dan went on. "He's my Master, I wear what he wants me to wear. I want to be the best version of me I can be for him."

"You're making progress in leaps and bounds, love," Lucifer said, reaching to squeeze his hand. Dan bowed his head and smiled softly. "I take it you wore everything that I instructed you?"

"Yes, Dark Lord."

Lucifer put his hand into a pocket and Dan gasped. "Good boy. Now finish your pudding quietly."

He nodded, and continued to eat.

"What just happened?"

Lucifer smiled mischievously and put the remote in the centre of the table. "Would you like to play too, Detective?"

She picked it up and experimented with the buttons. When nothing seemed to happen, she pressed up a few more times.

Dan tapped twice on the table.

"Too much. Turn it down please, darling."

She pressed the down button again.

"Better?" Lucifer asked Dan.

He tapped once.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"If you think it's a remote control sex toy that I bought for Daniel to wear to our date, then yes."

She put it down carefully. "I think I'll leave that in your hands."

They finished their dessert quietly, trading flirtatious glances and knowing what was going to happen next.

Lucifer settled the bill and the limo picked them up by the front door. "So, back to LUX? I'd like to dance with you both before we head upstairs."

"I'd like that too," Chloe smiled.


	4. Stop talking and go threesome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two detectives and a Devil go to bed.

There was something magical about walking onto the dance floor at LUX with the Devil himself. The lights glittered overhead, the patrons turned to watch with a gentle envy, and Dan was holding the rose as Lucifer put his arms around him and began to sway. Chloe stood behind him, leaning into him as she reached around him to touch Lucifer. Dan felt one hand leave his back and pull her in tighter. He was completely sandwiched between them, and he was more than happy about it. 

They danced through a verse and a chorus, and then Lucifer put a finger under his chin and lifted his face to kiss him.

The kiss was fervent and possessive. It laid a claim on him for all to see. Dan could do nothing but open his mouth and submit to the power it. His body yearned and his cock throbbed and the erection he'd kept at bay since they got to Chloe's place came back in force, demanding action. He pressed his hips forward, rubbing ever so gently.

Lucifer let go and smiled that fiendish smile. He leaned into Dan's ear and whispered, "Swap places with the Detective."

Dan swallowed and stepped to the side, guiding Chloe into the space and coming to stand behind her. He wondered if Lucifer would let him get away without standing too close. No such luck. Lucifer's long arm snaked under the back of his jacket and pulled him in, and then kept applying pressure as it moved down onto his rear. 

He felt Chloe inhale.

Dan's length was pressed up just above Chloe's ass. He tried not to move. Her hips rocked between them.

Lucifer continued swaying to the music, a rhythmic motion that heightened the arousal of everyone involved. Dan watched as he kissed Chloe with the same intensity, and then whispered in her ear. She whispered something back that made his face soften.

When the song ended Lucifer took both their hands and led them to the elevator. Once they were inside, he pulled their hands to bring them in close, and kissed them, turning his face from one to the other and back again. 

It was Chloe who led the way when the doors opened, pulling Lucifer by the hand, who in turn led a stumbling Dan who had almost forgotten what to do with his legs. He dropped the rose on the piano, and Lucifer dragged them all towards the bar.

"This is your date night, Detective," Lucifer said as he poured. "What do you desire?"

She took the glass he offered. "You know what I want."

"I do. But the question is how. There are so many possible ways to go about it."

"What would you do if I wasn't here?"

"I might make him strip for me. I might undress him myself. Or I might just get him to drop trou and bend over."

"I'm standing right here," Dan reminded them.

"We know," Lucifer said calmly. "Be a good minion and hush up while we decide what to do with you."

Dan went quiet.

"I wouldn't want him to ruin that gorgeous suit," Chloe said thoughtfully. "Or yours, for that matter. I think you better take them off."

"Very well. Daniel, come and undress me."

Chloe hopped onto a stool to watch as Dan reverently slipped his hands under Lucifer's jacket and pushed it from his shoulders. He laid it carefully on the high table beside them. He pulled the braces down next, and licked his lips as he worked the bowtie. She could see his pants were still straining. Lucifer's were filling out too, and she felt herself growing warm again, so she slipped off the lace layer over her dress. 

Dan's fingers fumbled a little over the hidden shirt buttons, but had no difficulty with the cufflinks, which rattled slightly on the glass table top. He pulled the shirt loose and removed it carefully, placing it on top of the jacket. 

There was a pause as Dan's eyes darted hungrily over Lucifer's bare torso. 

"Is there a problem, love?"

"Only that you're too fucking beautiful."

"Perhaps you'd like to kneel before me and continue."

"Yes, Dark Lord."

Dan bent down and undid Lucifer's shoe laces, and tenderly lifted his foot to remove both shoes and socks. He ran his hands up the trousers to the waistband, and unhooked and unzipped very slowly. He pushed the trousers down and Lucifer stepped out of them. 

"I'll take those," Chloe put down her drink and reached out before Dan had a chance to stand up again to put them on the pile.

Only the silk boxers remained. Not that they hid anything. The shape of the long, thick sideways line was clearly visible. Chloe came to stand at Lucifer's side, trailing her hands over his skin, and they kissed. Dan slid his fingers under silk, pulling the underwear forward and down. 

Lucifer sprang free, upright and rigid.

"Please Master, may I taste you?"

"Yes, darling. Please do," he smiled, and carried on kissing Chloe's neck as she turned her head to look.

Dan let the tip of his tongue touch the slit, and then teasingly circle the head. Lucifer sighed. "Good boy. Now suck me."

Chloe watched as Dan's lips wrapped around the pillar of flesh, his head moving slowly up and down, his cheeks hollow. Lucifer moaned softly and sought Chloe's mouth again, his right hand finding her thigh and pushing up her dress a little. She rocked against him, feeling warm and wet, and he pushed it up further, squeezing her ass. Something Dan did made Lucifer moan again, and they stopped kissing to lean into each other and watch as his cock completely disappeared into Dan's mouth.

Lucifer let go of Chloe's ass, moving his hand to the front and between her legs. A sweep of his thumb in the outside of her underwear was enough to part her and expose her swollen, needy clit. The satin fabric grew slick with moisture. He rubbed it gently, sometimes kissing her again, sometimes letting her watch Dan. His hands were on Lucifer's hips now, and his head bobbed with a steady pulse. Chloe's ragged breaths matched Lucifer's and she ground against his fingers, so close, so much sooner than she expected. She clung to him, gasping, as her body twitched and convulsed. He groaned as he joined her, twisting his fingers in Dan's hair and forcing him to be still.

Dan stayed just where he was as Lucifer withdrew, wet and hard, and smoothed out the hair he'd been grabbing.

"Well that was a pleasant start to the evening. Would you like to see more, my love?"

"Yes please."

"He is looking rather warm. Perhaps you should help him out of some of those clothes.”

Dan's face was indeed flushed, and he was breathing hard. He didn’t resist as Chloe stood behind him and took his jacket. She leaned over him to unbutton his waistcoat and took that too. Lucifer caught his tie and used it to pull him to his feet before sliding out the knot and dropping it with his own clothes. His fingers barely seemed to twitch as he unpopped the buttons on his shirt and removed the cufflinks by feel alone. The shirt was peeled away.

“Oh, Dan!” Chloe gasped. His back was a mess of colour- mostly green and yellow as the bruises healed, but with a touch of purple in places still. “That looks sore!”

“It was. But it was also wonderful. Just think of the bruises as hickies. They’re marks of love.”

“They’re pretty big for hickies.”

“There was a lot of love going on.”

"Can I touch them?"

"They belong to Lucifer, just like the rest of me. It's up to him."

Lucifer's chest swelled with pride. "You may. But be gentle. I'll share his pleasure, but for now his pain is all mine."

Chloe's fingertips ran softly over the marks. There were faint lines as well as the bruises. Was this normal? Was it supposed to leave him this battered? She would have to ask Lucifer later, but for now she was content to accept that this was what their intimacy looked like.

Her heart was fluttering. The first orgasm had only served to heighten her arousal, but it was more than that. Touching Dan's bare skin felt strange, but familiar. She still found him very attractive, and it was compounded by the feelings of affection that had been building while watching the way he was around Lucifer. She desired him. She'd been with the Devil long enough to recognise the feeling without denying it. She leaned closer and gently touched her lips to a mark on the back of his shoulder blade. 

"Thank you, Lucifer." _For sharing. For letting me be a part of this._

"You're welcome, my love." Lucifer squatted to take Dan's shoes and socks. Chloe walked around for a better view. She unfastened his trousers with her lower lip caught between her teeth, and then pulled away his tight boxers, which she added to the top of the pile.

"He rather something to look at, isn't he?" Lucifer said, his arms going around her waist.

"He really is." She pointed to the star on his chest. It was still a dark red scab. "This is new."

"It's a mark of my ownership," Lucifer explained. "It means he's chosen to be mine."

"Like a slave?" Her tone was carefully controlled. 

"A very willing one," Dan said. "I've sold my soul to the Devil, but his love is worth so much more."

Her face relaxed. "It is pretty awesome."

He nuzzled into her neck, and then looked up at Dan. "Now, my dear slave, I believe my first partner would like to watch me make love to you."

"Where do you want me, Dark Lord?"

"Detective?"

She picked up her drink and walked to the nearest end of the couch, where she spread out lengthways and pointed. "Right there."

"Excellent choice, darling. You'll have a good view of everything, and you can pleasure yourself in comfort." Lucifer tapped Dan's behind and he made his way over. "Face the back of the sofa, on your knees."

Dan got into position while Lucifer picked up a condom and lube from the coffee table.

"You're wearing a rubber?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Purely for hygiene purposes. I don't want to miss the chance to do you bareback afterwards." He knelt behind Dan and carefully removed the plug. Dan breathed deeply as Lucifer lined himself up. "Now Daniel, this is going to feel lovely, but you mustn't come until I'm done with you."

"Yes, Master."

A bit more lube and he pushed in. Dan inhaled again and blew out slowly as Lucifer sank deep. Lucifer stroked down his back and held onto his hips, listening, waiting. 

"Good boy, Daniel. You feel so perfect for me. You take it so well."

Chloe saw Dan's face light up at the praise, watched his body relax and respond. Lucifer started to move, a slow roll of his hips that made Dan's back curl. 

Lucifer looked at her. "Do you like it?"

She exhaled raggedly, and nodded. Her hand slid between her thighs and into her underwear. They were a vision of passion and strength. Beautiful- an alluring kind of male beauty, with muscles tensing and firm lines, and fierce love woven through it all.

Lucifer put on quite the show. Once he had Dan thoroughly warmed up he went on one knee and angled himself to make sure she could see him sliding in and out, his nearest arm held back out of the way. He didn't refrain from vocalising his pleasure either, with both inarticulate groans and words of praise for both partners. Dan kept quiet at first, but she knew by the way he breathed he was working hard to keep it in. She knew those breaths, they were the ones he used to use when they were trying not to wake the baby. When a noise did escape his throat he caught himself and cut it off.

"It's all right, love," Lucifer said, thrusting harder now. "I want to hear you. Chloe wants to hear you too. Let us both know how much you're enjoying my cock up your arse."

Dan groaned and whimpered, and Lucifer pumped faster. "That's it. Oh yes, that's very good." His free hand grabbed the hair on top of Dan's head and pulled it back to use for more leverage. Dan made a pained and urgent sound that made Chloe's body tense with need.

"Look at her, my darling slave. See how she's writhing. That's much pleasure you give both of us. She's going to make herself come soon. I want you to watch."

She had one hand on her neck, the other moving swiftly between her spread legs. Her heels were digging into the cushions, and she was panting hard. Her eyes were roaming over the scene before her, from Lucifer's hips smacking into Dan's ass over and over, to the strained ecstasy on Lucifer's face, and then Dan's pale eyes looking back and piercing all her defenses.

She came loudly, her hips bucking up into the air, her fingers still moving as Lucifer worked faster still, letting her pleasure feed his own. Her high pitched cries didn't stop until Lucifer crooned and held himself deep as he found release. It didn't take him long to recover. 

"Excellent work, love. Now get that beautiful arse of yours in bed. We'll join you in a moment."

He rose to his feet, feeling very used and quite delighted about it. Also horny as fuck.

"Master?"

"Yes, love?"

"May I please touch myself?"

"No."

Dan chewed his lower lip in frustration, and Chloe made a sympathetic noise. Lucifer appeared to reconsider. 

"But the Detective may touch you if she wishes."

"Come here Dan. Would you like me to touch you?"

He didn't trust himself to answer out loud, so he just nodded. Her fingers traced up the underside of his cock and he moaned. She stroked him gently, remembering the feel of him. He was hot and rigid. She gripped the shaft, worked it slowly up and down.

"Hnngh. That's much better. Thank you."

She paused. "Is that my cue to stop?"

"I don't think Lucifer's done with me yet. And, well…"

"You think if I keep going, you might come?"

"It's already a near thing. I've just been shagged by Satan, and I'm _really_ wound up."

Chloe let go, and her eyes lingered on him as he walked off to bed as ordered.

"What are you thinking?" Lucifer asked quietly, coming to sit near her.

"That I really want to put that thing in my mouth again," she whispered. "Or other places, if he was willing."

"That's why I had to ask earlier. He would do it if I ordered him, but I won't until he feels ready. Your mouth is fair game though. I don't suppose I could interest you in a bit of spit roasting?"

She giggled. "You say that like you're trying to tempt me to an extra donut."

"I know, but I'm the Devil, I have an enormous talent for making utterly filthy things seem perfectly reasonable." His lips traced a path along her shoulder. "What do you say? We could even turn it into an Eiffel Tower if you're in the mood to be really naughty."

She caught her lower lip between her teeth. "I am. But I think I should be honest with you, first."

"About what?"

"I think maybe… I'm kinda falling in love with him too."

"But that's perfect!" he declared.

"Is it? How?"

"Because he's bound to feel the same way sooner or later. And then we can all be disgustingly happy together."

"I don't know if it will be that simple. We've got too much history."

"Well, either way, I'll look after both of you. You're the two most important people in my life. I'd be very pleased to see you find happiness in each other."

"You're not even the smallest but concerned about it?"

"The only thing I'm concerned about now, is how long he's going to last once you start sucking him."

"You might have to start on me first. We'll do the tower as a grand finale."

"Oh Detective, you spoil me. No worries it could bring back bad memories?"

"None. I already know how much you love us. I want to find out how good it can feel. I just want to enjoy pleasure with my two favourite men."

"You're so pure you don't even realise what you're saying. I bet you could even make an orgy seem innocent."

"One step at a time, partner. I've only just got used to the idea of a threesome."

"So let's stop talking and go threesome."

Dan was waiting patiently in the edge of the bed, still obviously aroused but sitting on his hands to circumvent temptation. 

"Daniel, this is more of a question than an order, but how do you feel about snogging my Detective?"

"I… um… Chlo?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you- I mean, I don't mind if you-"

"Yeah, no, I'd be fine with that," she said quickly.

"But this is… I mean it doesn't… right?"

"You're all Lucifer's. I get it. Come here."

Dan stood in front of her, and touched her face. "This feels weird," he admitted.

"So you can eat me out, but you kissing me feels wrong?'

"Not wrong. Just- I never thought I'd be doing this again. It's good though. Even if it's not… you know."

Her brow creased in confusion but she also smiled. "Not exactly? Look, this whole thing is new territory for me, and the only thing I know for sure is that the lines are getting very blurred. But I'm okay with that. I just want to do whatever feels good, and right now I think that means kissing you. If you've no further objections."

Dan shook his head. "Mm-mm."

Chloe put a hand behind his neck and pulled him down to meet her lips. He still seemed tentative so she took the lead, deepening the pressure. He let out a tiny hum and she parted his lips with gentle force, sharing her breath for a moment before flicking out her tongue to taste him. He pulled her body closer, pressing up against her belly and kissed back. 

How long had it been? Trixie was just turning eight at the time. Three and a half years, or more. His tongue caressed hers gently, quickly gaining confidence as he remembered the feel of her. They were part of each other, even if they weren't exactly what they were before.

After a truly intense couple of minutes, they both felt a hand on their shoulder. They parted to see Lucifer looking at them hungrily, happily, desire seeping out his every pore. His hands moved up to their cheeks and he kissed Dan first and then Chloe. "Let's continue this in bed, shall we?"

They turned into a writhing mass of bodies and Lucifer was in his element. Chloe's dress and sodden underwear soon ended up on the floor. There were limbs and mouths everywhere. Hands caressed and tongues tasted, hips grinding with delicious friction. Lucifer held them tight and kissed them both at once, showing them how to tilt their heads and touch lips and tongues together. He made all sorts of pleased sounds when they succeeded. Dan accepted the challenge to see if he could get them both off together, as they lay side by side and he knelt by their legs with his fingers inside both of them. Chloe helped out by holding Lucifer's cock, and Dan served with his usual dedication, teasing and thrusting and curling inside. If one of them seemed to be lagging behind, he would bend and lick and suck until they were matched once more. He could feel both tightening around his fingers, their voices raised as they came simultaneously. He licked Chloe and she quivered, and then turned to clean Lucifer with his tongue. 

"I know you were always good, but how did you get this good?" Chloe asked once she'd caught her breath.

"I've been practising," he admitted. Also, the Goddess had given him honest and detailed critiques. Not that he was going to mention that in front of Lucifer. Especially not in bed. "And you've changed too. You're much more relaxed, which makes it easier. Lucifer's been good for you."

"I'm good for everyone, darling. But I think the point is, you've earned your reward. Would you still like to do that thing, Detective?"

"Mm-hmm. Very much." She stretched and wriggled.

"What thing is that?" Dan asked, curious.

"Stay there and you'll find out," Lucifer told him. He sat up and knelt in the top corner of the bed, and Chloe turned and got on all fours in front of him.

"Is it my turn to watch?"

Lucifer said nothing, but licked his lips and slid into her with a sigh. 

Chloe gave a delighted moan. "Oh, Lucifer, that feels so good!"

He ran his hands over her body, pressing deep, and bent down to kiss her skin. He moved gently, and she gasped, already so sensitive and swollen from the previous attention.

"Come closer and kiss me, Daniel."

Dan crept near on hands and knees, and accepted a hungry kiss. Chloe kept making happy noises as Lucifer's hips rocked in response. 

"Now kiss the Detective," he instructed. 

Her face was already close, and their cheeks brushed together as they sought each other's lips. Dan cupped her face and she moaned and whined against his mouth. Lucifer stole his hand and sucked his fingers. After a while Chloe had to break the kiss, gasping for air. 

Lucifer straightened. "Come over here, love. Get a really good look."

Dan crawled around and Lucifer pulled his head right onto his chest, looking down. "Can you see how I'm fucking her?"

"Yes, Dark Lord." Lucifer's cock was wet and glistening as it slid in and out, and Chloe's skin was flushed. 

"Did you use to fuck her like this?"

"Yes, Dark Lord." His voice was thick with desire. "It was one of her favourites."

"It still is. How do you feel, watching us like this? Are you jealous?"

"No, Dark Lord. Why would I be jealous? I'm a part of this experience. We both love you."

"You can be more involved than that." He pulled back a little. "Touch me. Slide your finger into her, beside me."

The angle felt slightly awkward, but it was warm, wet softness, and hot, smooth hardness. "Oh fuck!"

"Fuck!" Chloe gasped. "Oh, Dan, yes! More!"

She was calling his name, and it made him ache and throb. Dan worked in another finger. She was stretched tight around them, and still she rocked her hips.

Dan's head was still held firmly to Lucifer's chest, unable to look away from the place where he touched their lovemaking. Where he was part of their lovemaking. Lucifer loosened his grip and lifted Dan's face they were kissing, and he was still touching Lucifer's cock inside Chloe, and it was moving faster and more urgently. 

Chloe made a pained noise and Lucifer paused immediately. "Too much?"

"Almost. Fuck. It was so good, but I want him here now."

Lucifer slid back and Dan carefully removed his fingers. "What do you want me to do?"

She turned her head, looking up at him through tumbling hair, and crooked a finger to beckon him. He glanced at Lucifer, who nodded permission, and he crawled over. She patted the bed in front of her as Lucifer started moving again, her whole body rocking forward and back. Dan bent down to kiss her, and she let him, kissing back fiercely. She wanted him, more and more. Breaking the kiss, she pushed at his shoulder, making him rise, and then grabbed his hip and moved him closer.

"Oh fuck," Dan breathed as he realised what she was going to do. 

She didn't try to tease him, just opened her mouth wide and caught his cock and sucked it like she was starving.

"Oh fuck!" He ran his fingers through her hair, forcing himself to keep still and let her movement satisfy him.

Chloe moaned, so deliciously full from both directions. She looked up at Dan, a smile playing at the corners of her lips, and he smiled back, with lines of intense pleasure creasing his brow. His hands were gentle but greedy, like they always were; his body strong and human. Her hand crept up his abs, enjoying the feel of him and balancing against him with each of Lucifer's thrusts.

It wasn't like it was before, when she had been young. She didn't feel used or objectified, she felt like she was being worshipped. This was two people who loved her- in different ways but it was still love- and she loved them. Whatever direction her feelings for Dan were taking, she was sure of that. And she relished the chance to please him like this, to give herself to satisfy both of them at once, and _sweet fuck_ she never expected it to feel this good.

She listened to Dan's breathing, and realised he was getting close, so she eased off a little. She wanted to make it last. She wanted to come with Lucifer filling her and Dan deep in her throat, but not yet- it was too wonderful- not yet!

The air filled with sighs and groans and small growls, and the gentle slapping of Lucifer's hips on her bottom. He was getting faster, little by little, his balls swinging and tapping on her clit. He spoke softly, encouragingly, but her brain was buzzing and she couldn't make sense of the words. Everything else receded until the only thing she knew was the bliss of being penetrated and filled. She felt the pressure build as her body tightened. She sucked harder and bobbed her head, and felt Dan's fingers clench in her hair. A muffled wail escaped her throat. 

"Daniel, give me your hand," Lucifer said hoarsely. Their palms touched, but instead of a high five, they folded their fingers together and clung to each other. Lucifer pumped frantically, and all three voices rose in desperation. He squeezed Dan's hand as he peaked in an orgasm stronger than any that evening. Chloe felt her muscles begin to twitch and tremble, and then Dan was grunting and spilling into her mouth, and her climax shook her entire body. Her moans vibrated over his cock and made him pulse and shudder again, spurting out more than she could swallow.

Lucifer grabbed her around the ribs and pulled her upright, still throbbing inside her as she turned her head to kiss him. He licked Dan's come from her face and thrust a few more times sending aftershocks tingling through both of them. Dan had not let go of his hand, and Lucifer pulled him in close and kissed him too, then watched as he kissed Chloe. 

They all dropped down to lie in each others arms wordlessly, sated and exhausted. With small kisses and delicate caresses, they drifted off to sleep.


	5. Isn't that Netflix is for?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit negotiating a poly relationship.  
> Also family fun at the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I'm posting late. Naughty fairy.  
> Real life was getting busy, but we're here now.   
> And I still plan to get another chapter in tomorrow.  
> There will be plot soon, I promise.

When they woke up in the morning, in a warm tangle of limbs, they indulged in Lucifer's version of a quickie and then there was a frantic dash to get ready for work. Chloe already kept spare clothes at the penthouse, and Lucifer had bought Dan a couple of spare pairs of jeans and a few (slightly more expensive and stylish) shirts and sundries. He called two Ubers to take them home so they could pick up their cars and said he'd meet them back at the precinct.

There wasn't a new case yet, so Dan approached Chloe at her desk. "So do we need to talk about last night?" he asked.

She folded her arms around herself. "Do we? It was good. Are you having second thoughts about any of it?"

"Not exactly. I'm just a little confused where we stand."

"Blurred lines?"

"Yeah, that."

She looked around. There were a lot of people. "Files room?"

"Good call."

Once they were safely secluded from peering eyes, they stood facing each other awkwardly. 

"So yeah, we kissed," Chloe began.

"We did a lot more than kiss."

"Yes, but for some reason it's the kiss that made it feel intimate. We're both dating Lucifer, and granted I've had a bit longer to get used to the idea, because honestly, I totally saw it coming. But he's who he is, and I love him for it, but it does mean that there's going to be some overlap. And neither of us will ever be able to give him up, so we have to find a way to deal with it and each other. It may take some trial and error, but we need to be open and honest with each other about what works and what doesn't. And last night was good for me. How about you?"

"Wow. You really have thought about this, haven't you?"

"Yeah. I do that."

"Okay, so yeah, it's a little weird. On so many levels. I started serving the Devil, and now I'm dating him, and I'm learning about this whole other side of my sexuality and having to deal with that, and figure out what it means, and then my ex-wife comes as part of a package deal and I'm happy, I'm so happy, really, it's just- it's a lot." His hands, having spent some energy gesticulating, came to rest on his hips.

Chloe reached out and touched his arm gently. "I get it. I do. It was weird enough when I started dating him, without all that other baggage. But we're in this together. And I'm here for you. We have to support each other to make this work, and it needs to work, for all our sakes."

"Chloe, I'm scared. I keep getting these flashes of fear that I'm going to fuck it all up again, and Lucifer keeps telling me it's going to be okay, and when he's there it's easy to believe him, but then I get back to real life and I panic."

Chloe took a step closer and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"This." She pulled the fabric aside to expose the star and laid her hand over it. "This is how much you love him. How much he loves you. It's real."

"And what about us?"

"We'll figure it out," she said, doing his shirt back up. "Do you have any regrets about what we did last night?"

"No. No, last night was good. But I did it for Lucifer."

Chloe nodded. "So you don't have any residual feelings for me at all?"

Dan pressed his lips together. "I accepted we were over and I moved on. And a lot has happened since then. And the most important thing to me right now is Lucifer."

"Okay, but I've been working with him long enough to recognise when someone's not giving me a straight answer. Do you still feel anything for me?"

"That's not a fair question, not without answering it yourself. And the answer doesn't matter anyway, because even if I did, I love him, and that's more than enough for me to be dealing with right now."

"When you say you're learning to deal with a new aspect of your sexuality, are you worried because you're not as straight as you thought you were?"

"What? No, that's fine. I mean, it's not just Lucifer, I've been seeing David for months now. I've got a gay streak, that's not the issue."

"Then what is?"

"The pain. The submission. Last weekend was… well, it was like nothing else. I felt free. And I've always resisted it, denied it, but now I know that's who I am. And I have foolishly spent the last few nights googling. Which… was a little too educational."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Dumb ass. Who do you think you should be talking to if you have questions?"

He sighed. "Lucifer. But I didn't want to interrupt your time with him. I had him all weekend."

Chloe smiled to herself. "I don't think we can apply the same principles we use for sharing time with our daughter to our boyfriend. If you have a problem, if you're worried, you should call him, even if he's with me. We have to stop thinking of this in terms of your time or my time. It's his time, and he can spend it how he chooses. And on top of that, we have to be a unit, not competing, not separate halves, but one… well, one family."

Dan scrubbed a hand down his face. "So like you said at the start, we're in this together?"

"Exactly. Come here." She opened her arms and he exhaled and fell onto her shoulder, letting himself be held and holding her tight. "We can do this Dan. We can make it work."

"That's easy for you to say. You punched God."

"I did. And I will personally kick the ass of anyone who tries to spoil this for us, including you."

Dan chuckled. "Don't. I would probably enjoy it."

"I'm okay with that too."

"It's going to be okay, isn't it?"

"Yes. It's not going to be easy, but it's going to be okay. It's going to be amazing."

"Thank you. For being so understanding. For everything."

"You did the right thing by coming to me. Thank you. Now we both need to find files before someone starts a rumour we came in here to make out."

***

_Hey sexy. You free this weekend?_

_I've got my daughter._

_Shame. I was hoping to hear about your date. You know, as a friend. Because girl talk._

_Lol._  
_You gotta stop asking me for details man._

_Oooh! So it got interesting then?_  
_Did you do a sharing?_  
_;)_

_None of your business._  
_Also shut up._  
_Trixie goes back to her mom Sunday evening to get ready for school._  
_You can come over, or I can visit you._

_I like your place._  
_I can bring take-out._

_You always look extra sexy when you bring food. ;)_

_It's good to know I still hold some kind of appeal._

_You're gorgeous and I'd screw you even if you showed up empty handed._  
_That sounded better in my head._  
_Sorry, I didn't get much sleep._

_Of course not._  
_Better get used to that, I think your boyfriend's gonna keep you busy._  
_Why isn't he coming over then anyway?_

_I think Chloe's earned a whole weekend._  
_Besides, I need time to recover._

_Ha._  
_What time?_

_Any time after seven._

_Awesome. Looking forward to it._

Dan smiled at the thought, just as Lucifer came and perched on the corner of his desk.

"Texting lover boy again?"

"Sprung. Is that weird, after this morning? Am I being a man-slut?"

"You're asking me?" Lucifer seemed amused.

"Valid point." He put down his phone and picked up his grip strengthener just to keep his hands busy. "So I talked to Chloe."

"Are we all still happy?"

"Yes. I mean, it's still weird, but weird is the new normal these days, right?"

"I suppose it is from your perspective. It's strange for me too, but from the other direction, obviously."

"Going from being a total playboy to having two steady partners?"

"Yes. I like it though. I like you." He brushed a finger over Dan's jaw- a quick and discreet caress.

"I like you too. I like what you do to me. I like being the guy you're helping me become."

"In this instance I feel happy to take some of the credit."

"But I may have some questions."

"Fire away."

"Not here. They're kinda personal."

"I'll meet you in the evidence room by the lab. Don't keep me waiting long."

***

Dan gave it a couple of minutes and then walked in. Lucifer was waiting, leaning casually on a shelf. The temptation to fall straight into his arms and kiss him was strong, but would inevitably lead to things Dan wasn’t sure they should be doing at work. Lucifer looked him up and down, clearly thinking similar thoughts. 

“So what did you want to ask me about?”

“I looked on the internet.”

“Oh dear. For what?”

“To try and find about a bit more about this… BDSM thing.”

“Whatever you saw, be aware that everyone is different, and there are a lot of opinions. Was it exciting, or troubling?”

“A little of both? I mean, what we did… I get the impression it was pretty extreme. Some of the stuff I saw, people said it shouldn’t be like that.”

“It’s not for everyone, no. But you’re special. And I know exactly what I’m doing, unlike some out there.”

“Like that woman from last week, yeah I know. And I trust you to look after me, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

Dan looked down, pinching the skin between his fingers. “I’m a hardcore freak, aren’t I?”

Lucifer smiled and lifted his chin. “Yes. A beautiful, wonderful, unique individual, with whom I can indulge my darkest desires. Don’t ever be ashamed of yourself for it. On the contrary, be proud of who you are, that you have the strength to submit completely and not lose yourself.”

Dan felt himself melting under that gaze, so full of affection. His doubts about himself and what he wanted vanished. “Okay. But- fuck. We can’t do that all the time, can we? I mean, my body’s not going to cope.”

“No. We’ll save the extreme activities for special occasions, make sure you have time to recover in between. There are other ways I can make you serve me. Other ways I can make you feel my power.” The hand on Dan’s jaw turned and tightened, gripping him firmly without bruising, but forcing his face up higher. “Was there anything else?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Go on.” His grip didn’t let up.

“Should we have some kind of formal agreement, or something? Like a contract, so we both know where we stand?”

Lucifer scoffed, the thumb on his free hand finding the star on Dan’s chest, pressing it until it ached. “This is our contract. Your body belongs to me, and I will do with it as I please.” His hand ran down his torso, and Dan shivered, but he stopped at his belt. “But I will also respect your wishes, which means this is where I stop, because you drew a line that you don’t want us to cross at work. Real life has to happen, too, doesn’t it?”

Dan groaned. “I’m seriously considering moving the line right now.”

“Really? I’d hate to be a corruptive influence on you, Daniel, or make you go against your better judgement.”

“My judgement may be impaired by how horny you make me.”

“Then it’s not true consent, and I should go before I coerce you into something you regret later, like buggering you right here until you leave a pool of your own evidence on the shelf.”

“Hnnngh…”

Lucifer leaned in, kissed him gently, and watched his face smugly as he walked out the room.

Dan groaned again, palming his crotch briefly before trying to calm himself enough to leave the room. When he got back outside, Lucifer was perched on Chloe’s desk, and talking to her about who knew what in such a normal manner, as if they hadn’t just spent half the night screwing each other’s brains out. _How do they even do that?_

***

Dan picked Trixie up from her after school karate practise and they stopped for burgers on the way home. They talked about school for a while, and Dan told her how proud he was. Then she came straight out with the question. 

"So is Lucifer coming round this weekend?"

Dan gagged a little on his burger. "I think he's got plans with your mom."

Trixie whined. "Really? That's not fair. At this rate I'll never see him."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you're both going to be swapping between us. So you can do gross grown up stuff with him when I'm not there."

Dan thought. "I can see that it feels like that now, but I promise you it won't stay like that. It's always kinda intense when you first start dating someone, and you just want to do everything with them, but it doesn't last forever."

"Would you rather be doing stuff with Lucifer now?"

"No, sweetheart," he smiled. "I'm very glad that I get to spend time with you."

"But if he was here too, you'd be even happier. It's okay to admit it, Dad."

"I love him a lot. He makes me happy. If you like, maybe we could do something all together next time."

"Can we go out for coffee?"

"Yeah. Sounds awesome."

"Coffee with my two gay dads. It's perfect."

***

_I miss you._

_I miss you too._ _How's your weekend?_

_Good. It takes a lot longer to recover between rounds when you're not here though._

_Is that why you miss me?_

_It's one reason. Not the main one._

_So what's the main one?_

_I love you, obviously._  
_Closely followed by you feel nice._  
_And Chloe keeps making me help with chores, when it would be so much more fun to pass them onto you._

_She's got you for the whole weekend and she's got you doing chores?_

_It passes the time between shags._

_Isn't that Netflix is for?_

_Tell her that._

"Hey, Dad, you're supposed to be getting ready, not messaging Lucifer."

"How can you tell?"

"The insane grin."

_What are you and the spawn up to anyway?_

_Getting ready for the beach._ _Picnic and swim._

_Would you mind if we joined you?_

"Hey Trix, he wants to know if he can join us on the beach."

"What about Mom?"

"We could invite her too."

"Are you going to spend the entire time making googly eyes at each other?"

"Maybe not the _entire_ time…" he said, then laughed.

"Okay, but no tongue kissing."

_I think we'd both like that a lot._

***

It was a gorgeous afternoon, full of sunshine and laughter. Lucifer kept his inappropriate comments to a subtle level of double entendre that mostly went over Trixie's head, though she did narrow her eyes at him once or twice when her dad tried to smother a laugh at something he said. They drank cans of soda and ate hot dogs from the back of a truck. Dan wore a short sleeve button-up, which he kept on even while they went in the water. Chloe watched them splash and play from the sand, feeling content and bathed in the love of family.

"What happened to being proud?" Lucifer asked later while Trixie showed Chloe her katas. 

"Huh?" They sat side by side, leaning into each other and staring out at the waves. Lucifer had chosen a lightweight pair of cotton trousers, which were currently rolled up almost to his knees. His shirt sleeves were also rolled up to his elbows. He had worn a Speedo for swimming, but got dressed again afterward before they had everyone on the entire beach trying to join their picnic. Or at least watching it.

"You've not taken off your shirt. It's like you're hiding something."

"If it was just us, on an adults only beach, maybe, but there's stuff I don't want to have to explain to my kid yet."

"You might have to start sooner than you think. She's friends with Maze."

"You don't think Maze would try any-"

"What? No! But she's a demon, and talks. To anyone. About anything."

"I've already laid ground rules with Maze. No talking about sex or drugs or bloody violence around Trixie."

Lucifer frowned at him. "You rule that lot out, what does Maze have left to talk about?"

"No idea. I don't ask."

"Probably best. It might involve glitter."

Dan chuckled and pressed a small kiss on Lucifer's shoulder. "Once it's all just scars, I might show her, tell her it's like a tattoo or something, but not the bruises, or the hickies. I'm not ashamed, it's just a parent thing."

"So, you wouldn't feel bad showing, for example, Miss Lopez?"

"I wouldn't. She might not be entirely comfortable with it though."

"Humans are so peculiar about sex. I blame Dad."

"Don't you blame Him for everything, though?"

"Mostly."

"Don't you think that's a little hypocritical?"

"The difference is, people blame me for things I have no control over. Ultimately, Dad's responsible for everything."

"There is that."

"We need ice-cream," he decided suddenly and stood up. "Detective! Urchin!"

The two came running back.

"Chocolate or vanilla?"

***

Sunday morning was waffles and cartoons. It had been a while before Dan could even look at a waffle without being overcome by grief and anger, but Lucifer and his branding iron had dealt with a lot of that, and time had done the rest. Now he and Trixie were looking at a stack that had to be at least eight inches high, and covered in syrup and fruit and whipped cream.

"You realise that this is pure indulgence and we won't be doing this every weekend?"

"I know. But I also intend to take full advantage of your I've-got-a-new-boyfriend good mood."

"Sure." His phone rang. "Speaking of…"

Trixie giggled.

"Hey Lucifer."

_"Do you have plans this evening?"_

"Yeah," he winced. "Sorry, I thought you were staying with Chloe?"

Trixie frowned at him. This was exactly the situation she was afraid of.

_"Yes, I was. Don't apologise, you have every right to do things on your own."_

"Yeah, but I might be able to reschedule if you wanted to do something."

_"Not on your own then?"_

"No…"

_"With David?"_

"Yes."

There was a pause. Dan nodded to Trixie to excuse himself, went into the bedroom and closed the door.

_"Is it selfish to say I still miss you?"_

"No, it's not. But it might not be fair for me to ditch him to see you."

_"Fair point. I still miss you though."_

"Me too. Maybe I should make this the last time. There's just not enough hours in the day to be yours, and do work, and be a dad and have an extra lover on the side."

_"You still like spending time with him though?"_

"I do. But you come first. Well, Trixie comes first, but you're a very close second."

_"Then I'll be patient. I do have an interesting idea though, but I'll have to run it by the Detective first."_

"Sounds intriguing."

_"I'll fill you in if she's agreeable. But don't do anything with David until I've spoken to you again."_

"Yes Dark Lord."

_"Good boy. I love you."_

"I love you too."


	6. Remote participation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer decides he wants to try another "Sharing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this a odd scenario and I wasn't sure exactly how to write it so that you know who's doing what where, but hopefully I've found a way to get it all to make sense.

"I'm going to make a suggestion and I want you to know that you have absolute veto power if you don't approve."

Chloe sat up and Lucifer set the tray of breakfast on her lap.

"Well, if you're trying to bribe me, breakfast in bed is a good start. What do you want?"

"Daniel's having David over this evening."

She frowned. "And you want to go join them? Because that's an immediate veto, and you know that."

"I do. But I wasn't thinking about joining them in person. More of a remote participation."

Chloe nodded slowly as understanding dawned. "You mean like the prayer thing?"

"Exactly. It would allow me to feel close to Daniel, while still being here with you."

Her head continued to bob. 

"You're not saying anything."

"I'm thinking." She took a bite of toast.

"Well I suppose that's not an instant veto."

"How… active do expect your participation to be in this scenario?"

"As much or as little as you feel is appropriate. I thought perhaps I might send them messages. Tell them what I'd like them to do."

"Hmmm. So kind of like a live porn thing, with a webcam? You see them, but they don't see you?"

"The analogy is a good one, yes."

She took another mouthful and chewed while she thought. "Would they both be praying?"

"If Dan prays, I feel his pleasure, experience his love for me. If David prays, I get to see and feel everything Dan's doing to him as if he were doing it to me."

"But you'd also be seeing David from Dan's perspective, like you're screwing him too."

"I would. Which is why you can say no to any or all of this. I love you, and I want to be faithful, however that looks in your eyes."

Chloe stayed quiet another moment. "Do you want me to be part of this with you?"

"I'd like it very much. But only if you desire it too."

"What about last time? It was so hard on you. What if this triggers bad memories?"

"The situation is very different now. I don't expect it to be an issue. But if it is, I'll call them straight away and tell them to stop."

She nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay. Yes. Let's have ourselves a little remote sex party."

Lucifer smiled. "I'm delighted, but also surprised. Why on earth have you just said yes?"

"Because I love seeing you happy. And I know that sex makes you happy, and I may not be able to say yes to an actual orgy- at least not yet, but if you can make concessions and give stuff up for me, then I can make concessions for you. And it means a lot to me that you gave up that whole… I hate the word lifestyle, but I can't think of a better one. And maybe this is a way I can give some of that back."

Lucifer leaned over the breakfast tray and kissed her. "You still astonish me. Now eat up, so I can make love to you."

***

Lucifer sent a message to Dan, instructing him to call as soon as David got there, so they could openly discuss his proposal. Dan still had no idea what it was about, but he had suspicions. 

David brought pizza. He wore his best skinny jeans with the cuffs turned up and a scoop neck shirt that looked about two sizes too big for him.

Dan greeted him with a deep kiss. "Hi. Mind if I call Master?"

"You're under instructions again?"

"Always. I think it's becoming a lifestyle."

"It's not a problem. But don't let the food get cold."

He put the box on the coffee table and they sat on the sofa while Dan dialled.

_"Hello, darling."_

"Hello Dark Lord. He's here."

_"Put me in speaker."_

Dan touched the screen and held the phone between them. "We're listening."

_"Hello David. Apologies for interrupting your date, but I was wondering if you would both indulge me in something."_

"It's not exactly a date," David clarified. "But go ahead."

_"I was wondering if you had any desire to try that little prayer trick of yours again."_

Dan and David looked at each other, equally baffled.

_"Are you still there?"_

"Yeah, no," Dan stammered. "We're here, it's just- is this the thing you were going to ask Chloe about?"

_"Yes."_

"And she agreed to it?"

_"Yes, surprisingly. But in the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that she'll be with me the whole time."_

"Lucifer?"

_"Yes David."_

"Just to be clear- you want us to do another Sharing? By praying to you while we have sex, offering you our pleasure while you listen… with your girlfriend?"

_"Yes. I expect there'll be some kind of sex going on this end too."_

"I- I'd be honoured, sir."

_"Not right away, obviously. We'll wait until after bedtime. Daniel?"_

"Yes, Master?"

_"How do you feel about the idea?"_

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

_"I am."_

"Then that's all I need to know. I'll serve you however you choose."

_"I'll need you both to keep your phones on, and nearby. I'd like to be able to send you messages- feedback, instructions, that sort of thing."_

"Oh my Satan," David breathed. "Sorry. I mean, yes. That would be awesome."

"Oh yeah. Awesome," Dan echoed.

_"Lovely. David, can you throw me a quick thought now, just to check the line's still operational?"_

"Shit, of course." He opened the box and focused on the pizza, sending his thoughts to Lucifer.

_"Pepperoni? Smells delicious. Enjoy your meal, gentlemen, I'll let you know when we're ready for the show to begin."_

The phone clicked off.

David made a long, high-pitched squeak of excitement that ended with him falling into Dan's lap. He continued with a steady stream of thanks alternating with quick kisses over his face and neck.

"Hey, hold on!" Dan laughed. "We've got some time before we start. Don't want to peak too soon and disappoint our Dark Lord."

"If I had known this was going to happen, I would have brought some blue pills, but I'll do my best." He laughed. "I can't believe Satan wants to use me for his sexual fantasies. I mean, obviously you're the main attraction, but I still get to serve him. For real this time, knowing he's listening, knowing that I can please him. Thank you for bringing me this opportunity."

"You're welcome. Thank you for bringing me pizza. Now let go, I've been told to eat."

***

Lucifer lay on Chloe's bed. She knelt beside him, slowly unbuttoning his shirt.

As he rose up to let her take it from his back, he leaned his face to meet hers and kissed her lightly. "Are you sure about this? We can still back out if you want."

She smiled as she tugged his belt free. "I want you to be happy. And I know this is good for you, and seeing you all naked and turned on is good for me too." As if to prove her point, she also took his trousers. "Come on. Don't keep them waiting any longer."

With another kiss, deeper this time, he stripped her quickly and completely. They lay down together and she traced light patterns in his chest as he picked up his phone. He didn't try to hide what he was typing, but she watched his face instead.

_We're ready. Are you?_

It was slightly giddying at first, as Dan's apartment swam before his eyes. They were on the sofa. He was leaning on Dan's chest, his heart fluttering with excitement, and he also lay with David reclining on top of him, and a heart full of love. He sighed. This was going to be magical.

And then his lover's voice. _Yes, Dark Lord. Where would you like us to start?_

_Show me how you kiss._

He recognised the feel of Dan's lips. Now that he wasn't freaking out he could enjoy the feel of David's lips too- smoother and softer, with a delicately seeking tongue. He was kissing Dan as if it was his first time, and Lucifer appreciated the gesture. David was trying to woo him, and it was sweet and wonderful.

He lifted Chloe's face and kissed her just as gently. "Is it good?" she asked.

"Yes. It's lovely."

"You should tell them."

_You both feel marvellous._

The _thank you_ s he got in reply were simultaneous. He enjoyed their kisses for several minutes, combing his fingers through Chloe's hair as she lay quietly beside him. His breath gradually deepened, his body feeling warmer. When he felt the first tingles of arousal, he wasn't quite sure who it was coming from. David, he realised, as it was lightly spiced with a flutter of nerves. He was keen to impress, it seemed.

Lucifer felt the sensation of stiffening, but David resisted the urge to push against Dan's hip. He kept kissing him gently, stroking the line of his jaw, but there was a hunger behind it waiting to be unleashed.

The next message Lucifer tapped out went straight to David's phone. 

_You have my permission to bite his neck._  
_And you don't need to be gentle about it either._

He heard the ping, and was amused at their confusion when Dan's phone was still blank. David shifted and grabbed his from the table. Suddenly Dan could feel the hard length pressing on his thigh, and it made him wiggle. Lucifer found himself wiggling too, and it made Chloe smile. She dropped kisses over his arm as David showed Dan the message. Dan grinned and bared his neck.

David licked and kissed it first, teasing and building the anticipation. Even though Lucifer could sense his intention and knew when the bite was coming, he still felt Dan's surprise and delight as the bright pain sparked on his neck. Their backs arched as one, and Chloe kissed his ribs and watched him grow full and hard. 

_You both need to get rid of some clothes._

The worshippers were happy to oblige, and it was a cacophony of buttons and fabric and skin in Lucifer's head. He stopped them while they still both wore their underwear- Dan's tight cotton boxers and David in a pair of bright pink briefs. 

To David- _Let me feel his skin. I want to know every ripple of muscle on his chest, every dip and curve. I want to taste his sweat._

David didn't bother to show Dan this time, he just went to work with hands and mouth. Hands that were smaller than Lucifer's own. He was seeing things through a new pair of eyes, and it made Dan's body feel strangely different.

The love was still there in his prayers though, still as strong and intoxicating as ever.

He let his own hands wander over Chloe, her deeper curves and softer skin a contrast to the two male bodies woven inextricably into his thoughts and senses. David's scent was fresh and fruity, like oranges. He was lying atop Dan on the sofa, legs curling around legs and feet hooking under shins. He couldn't help but rock his hips now, and Dan was rocking back, adjusting himself as needed so that two hard lengths were side by side. 

Lucifer wanted more. He lifted his phone again.

"Are you purposefully looking away while I'm typing?" he asked Chloe.

"I didn't want to eavesdrop."

"You have every right to participate as much as you like. Here," he turned it towards her as he hit send.

Dan's phone pinged. 

_Have you shown him your new trick yet?_

He replied by prayer. _Not yet, Master._

_Roll him over. You want him on his back so that you have more control and can back off if you need to._

"What's his trick?" Chloe asked curiously. 

"Hold on," Dan said, holding an arm around David's chest and turning him over. "We're gonna try something."

"What kind of something?"

“Deepthroating,” Lucifer grinned and switched tabs. 

As Dan thoughtfully wedged a small cushion under his head, David's phone went again. He decided he might just hold onto it. It was awkward to have to keep grabbing it, but it was worth it to see Lucifer's words. 

_Dan's going to suck your cock._

_Oh, thank you Satan._

_It's my cock too, for now. You're going to share everything you feel with me, and at the same time I'll be tasting you._

Lucifer smiled at the incoherent fizzle of a prayer that was all excitement, awe and wonder. Chloe moaned and mouthed at his chest, and he slid his thigh between her legs. She pressed against it and waited.

Dan kept hold of his phone too, clutching it with two fingers against his palm while he pulled down the bright pink briefs with both hands. 

_Stop there and let me look at him a minute._

"Feel free to imagine the scene, if you like," he told Chloe.

"Where are they?"

"On Dan's couch. Bloody Hell, but David's a pretty boy."

"Does he have any other tattoos?"

"No. Not a mark on him."

David was looking up at Dan expectantly. 

"I prefer Daniel. His body tells a story. I want to keep adding to it."

"You mean give him more scars?"

"Yes. He's going to look like a Viking warrior by the time he gets old."

"Hmm… that sounds kinda sexy."

"I promise it will be. Meanwhile…"

_You both look incredibly delicious. You can start sucking now._

Dan bent down, and David and Lucifer gasped at the same time. His tongue danced all over and Lucifer pulled Chloe tighter to his chest. As he started sucking, Lucifer's mouth opened and she kissed him until he was drowning in sensations. David was skilled at enjoying the attention while keeping the tension from building too high. At least, he was until Dan showed off his improved skills and took him all the way down.

It took him by surprise and he swore by Satan and all that's unholy. It made Lucifer smile and it pulled at the corners of Dan's lips even though they had nowhere to go. He liked the physical feeling of being this full, and the pride of knowing that he had succeeded for his Master.

Lucifer liked that pride too. So he stoked it.

_You're doing brilliantly love. He won't tell you, but he almost lost it for a moment there.  
Be a good boy and swallow for me. Let me feel your throat moving around him._

David moaned.

_Yes, that's perfect._

Lucifer switched tabs again.

_It feels gorgeous, doesn't it? Take a few deep breaths for me, darling, and get it back under control. Remember who's watching. We both want this to last._  
_That's better. He'll start moving when I tell him, and I want you to let him know how well he's doing. It will make him very happy and turn him on even more and I'll feel all of it._

_Daniel, I want to bob your head very gently. I think we're back under control, but go slow just in case._

_Yes Dark Lord._

"Hnngh," Lucifer sighed as he felt it all- being full, going deep, submission and reverence. And then David spoke.

"Oh yes! Sweet Lucifer, fuck, that feels so good. Oh Dan, the Devil's been teaching you tricks, hasn't he? Did he make you take him like this? Did he come right down your throat? Yeah, I bet he did. He must have, because you feel so incredible. Because you do everything right, just the way Master wants it. You're his good boy."

Dan's heart lurched at the words of praise, a heady mix of self-worth, love, and gratitude. He moaned over David's cock, who had to breathe deep again to ease the intensity of it.

 _He's not the only good boy here,_ Lucifer told him. _You're doing very well too._

David let his phone drop down into his chest and fisted a hand into Dan's hair as he thrust upward. Dan gave a strangled grunt but took it greedily. For a few moments Lucifer was too overwhelmed to say or do anything. Chloe was moving on his thigh and kissing him.

"Oh praise Satan, you're amazing. I can't believe you let me fuck your mouth like this. You're such a good boy."

And Lucifer felt like the words were for him. Like David was calling him good, and along with Dan's sense of affirmation at the words and the experience from David's perspective he was biting his lip to keep from crying out. Chloe was there, and it hurt, and he didn't realise what was happening until it was too late. His body tensed forcefully and then let go, spilling on his own belly and on Chloe where she lay against his chest. 

She felt it and raised her head to look at him, but his face was still contorted. He shoved his phone at her and whined softly.

_Hey Dan, can you stop a minute?_  
_I think it's getting a bit much._

_Chloe?_

_Yeah. He's too out of it to type right now. You just made him come._

Lucifer blinked blearily as the room came back into focus. 

"You okay, love?" Chloe asked. 

"Hmmm," he nodded and smiled. Chloe grabbed a bunch of tissues and cleaned them both up. He was still rigid. 

_Is he okay?_

_Yeah, he's good. Are you guys okay?_

_We're fantastic. Just taking a quick breather._

_Probably best. I don't think he's finished with you yet, though, so hold on._

_Is he still…_

_Like a rock. And don't ask me how that works when I'm here and you're not because I have no idea._

_Awesome. We might just keep making out for now and wait for instructions. Let us know if he's done._

Lucifer grabbed the phone back.

_Done?_  
_I am NOT done, thank you very much._  
_That was insanely good and I want more._  
_Now._

_Yes Dark Lord._

The prayer washed over him again, immersing him in Dan's love.

"Keep praying," he heard him say to David, and then the stereo haze descended.

_You should go to bed._  
_Be naked._  
_Make love._

_You mean have sex,_ Dan clarified.

_Have sex with him. Make love to me._

_Yes Master._

The worshippers walked into the bedroom and Dan ditched his boxers and grabbed the lube. "How do you want us?" he asked out loud. 

_What does David like best?_

_He comes hardest when he's sitting on my cock. He likes to be in control._

_I like that idea too._

Dan lay down on his back and took David's hand. "Are you ready to get fucked for the Devil?"

David straddled his chest. "Hell yes! Lube me up."

Dan's finger slid in with little resistance. David purred. He didn't need a lot of this, but he liked it. Besides, Lucifer was watching, feeling everything that he did, so he pressed in and crooked his finger.

There was another ping and Dan grabbed his phone left-handed. _That's very lovely._

Lucifer still clutched his phone in one hand, while the other squeezed Chloe's rear, pulling her tighter against his hip. It was getting wetter and wetter as she wiggled, turned on by a show she couldn't even see.

"Daniel's got his finger up my arse," he whispered in her ear. "Or at least it feels like he has. But it's not my arse, and the differences are small and uncanny."

"So if I were to finger you now, too…"

"Oh, darling, would you?"

She moved around until she could reach, giving her fingers a good lick first. They had tried this a couple of times before- the first going dramatically wrong as Lucifer hadn't thought to take the vulnerability into consideration and pushed too fast too quickly. The second had been more tentative, and enjoyable even though Chloe was still learning her way around. She was more confident now, and clearly pleased by the effect on him.

Daniel's fingers were magical though. He knew exactly what made David squirm, and Lucifer was carried along with him. He looked down at Chloe, her body half draped over his, her eyes level with his abdomen but fixed on his face. It was superimposed with Dan's, which was full of lust, and David's which was… oh bloody Hell he was getting ready to come.

Dry orgasms were a skill that had to be learned, but David had spent a long time perfecting the technique. 

"Oh Dan,sweetheart, keep doing that and we can give him an extra helping."

There was heat and pressure, and a tension working itself into knots in thighs and belly. For a brief moment they teetered on the cusp, and Lucifer wasn't sure if they would quite make it, but then David prayed. "Lucifer, accept my offering!"

With an exquisite snap and judder everything let go. 

David sank forward into Dan's chest, and he withdrew and wrapped both arms around him. 

"I need to fuck you so bad," he half whispered, half prayed.

"Give me a minute."

_Give us both a minute._  
_That was bloody amazing, love._

_And as for you, my dear twink, consider your offering accepted._

David's heart expanded with the assurance that he had pleased his deity. He raised his head and kissed Dan with all the passion he could muster, filling it with devotion and adoration, as if he were kissing the Devil himself. 

Because he was. 

And Lucifer felt it, and Dan felt it, and all of them wanted more. And Dan pressed himself against David's entrance, and sent a silent query.

_YES!!!_

He flashed the screen at his lover, who lowered his hips and slid over him. "Praise Satan," he intoned. 

"Praise Satan," Dan agreed. 

Lucifer's hips curled upward. He moaned. He grabbed Chloe and pulled her around until she was lying on top of him and rubbing himself in whatever parts of her were closest.

Which happened to be between her thighs, right where she needed him.

His eyes were glazed, like he was only half seeing her, which she supposed he was. 

It reminded her of the first time, when they were so desperate to be as close as they could possibly be. His grip loosened and his body twitched and responded to things that were happening far away.

She knew she was enough for him. That he had willingly and happily given it all up for her. But the look of sheer joy on his face as he made love to three people at once made her glad she had decided to share him. She could give him so much more than just her own love.

She also knew he was utterly insensible, and maybe less than half there, but even so she found herself thrilled by the way his body undulated beneath her. She caught his face in her hands and sought his eyes until he focussed on her. "Detective…" he sighed.

"Is there room for one more in there?" she asked, running her fingers over his brow. He nodded quickly.

The sense of her love, pure and bright, magnified everything beyond anything he'd imagined. He could feel his own hard length sliding against her clit, could feel her body tighten as it neared an orgasm. 

And still, there was Daniel, under him, filling him, loving him, and David over him, surrounding him.

Hot. Wet. Hard. Tight. Full. Stretching and pulling. Moving, slow and deep.

Chloe swallowed her moans and buckled as she came intensely but as quietly as she could. Lucifer shuddered with her, making them both wet and slippery, but it didn't stop him moving- couldn't stop him. Dan's desire was as strong as ever, and he kept pushing, burying himself inside David over and over.

Lucifer was swimming in lust and passion and oh, sweet Hell, the worship! He could barely form a thought. He wasn't sure when things had sped up, but the urgency kept getting stronger. Chloe has moved back to his side and was stroking him steadily. Dan was aching to come, but holding himself back. He was pumping Lucifer's cock too, much faster- wait, no, that was David's- and David was bouncing and squeezing him.

"Lucifer, my Dark Lord, mighty Satan, accept this offering…"

The offering was strong, and shook Lucifer from head to foot. He watched threads of white spring through Dan's fingers and over his belly, shooting far enough to splatter the scars on his chest. At the same time as the shivers of pleasure ripped through him, he felt the muscles tug at Dan's cock, and he pushed his hips up in one last great thrust as the second release joined with the first. 

Lucifer's body arched and he tore the sheets in an effort to keep from crying out. Then he sagged, melting as the prayers continued, sharing two extra portions of post-orgasmic bliss. He managed to pick up his phone.

_Dxjzgndsu9fxeis ssh ftvuvjv cgxz ic_

Dan looked and laughed, and then had to show David, who also laughed, and even Chloe got caught in the aftersex giggles as she watched Lucifer dissolve in unexplained mirth.

They rested, still Sharing wordlessly, and someone pressed lips to skin but Lucifer had no idea who. 

He wanted to send another message, but there were no words to describe this feeling.

A flood of hearts filled Dan’s screen.


	7. Slow Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild plot appears...

David woke up in Dan's bed. They were both naked, legs tangled, and there was a strong muscled arm under his head and a scarred torso under his fingers. He felt happy and content in a way he hadn't felt in a long time. He pressed his lips to Dan's shoulder and his morning wood to Dan's hip. For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to wake up like this every day. 

_Fuck._

Now was not the time to be getting a crush. Dan wasn't his; he had already been claimed by the Lord of Darkness. David only had him on loan, and he had a strong feeling that his time was running short. The last thing he needed was to be getting any kind of feelings. 

Admittedly there had always been some kind of feelings. The attraction had been there from the beginning, even when Dan first interrogated him, in spite of the mockery. But it was always just about mutual pleasure. He'd had plenty of fuck buddies without falling for them. Dan was a good friend, but hoping for any more than that would be a disaster waiting to happen. He needed to quit snuggling and bring it back into the sex zone right away.

Fortunately, Dan was waking up, and it seemed like he had a similar plan of action.

David rolled onto his belly and lifted his butt in the air, needing to be thoroughly pounded. Dan climbed on his back and kissed his neck and slid inside and coaxed him gently to the heights of pleasure. It was different- Dan had always been attentive, but this… He thought it couldn't get any better than last night, when they screwed Satan, but it was David's name Dan was gasping as he came inside him, and it was just the two of them as Dan pulled him up and cradled him in his arms and pulled at his aching cock until he came too.

David rested on those huge, strong arms, leaning into his lover and wishing they could stay like this all day. Then he swore, pulled away, and went straight into the bathroom. He informed his reflection that he was being an idiot, and splashed water over his face, and waited for the ache in his chest to subside.

"Hey, are you okay in there?" Because of course Dan would be sweet and sensitive and make this whole decision that much harder. But also more obvious that it needed to be made.

"Yeah, I just need a minute." Deep breaths. A prayer would usually be a good thing about now, or at least it used to be. But what could he say now? _Dear Satan, your boyfriend just fucked me better than ever and could you please help me find the strength to stop my heart from betraying me into wanting what's yours?_ No. Not a good plan. Especially not after all that had happened last night.

He took a quick shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. Dan was lying under the covers, but he sat up when David came in.

"Hey. So, here's the thing. I think we might need to slow things down for a while."

"What's wrong?" he frowned.

"Remember how I kept saying I should never date you? Because you're way too complicated?"

"I do."

David's heart clenched again at that sweet, confused expression, but he had to get it all out in the open. "Well, my brain is trying to tell me that maybe it wouldn't be that bad. Well, not my brain, exactly. This was good. Too good. And last night was… well, it was fucking insane, and waking up with you is incredible and I think it's confusing parts of me. And I just need to take a step back from you before I do or say or feel something that will get me caught up in even more complicated than I can deal with."

Dan picked at the sheet covering his legs. Satan's chosen one, looking so lost and vulnerable. "Why does this feel like you're breaking up with me?"

"I can't break up with you, we're not dating."

"Right. So when you say slow down…?"

"I mean let's give it a couple of weeks before we do anything like this again. Give you time to work out what you want with Lucifer. Give me time to focus on our friendship over anything else I might be imagining. Then we can decide if we still want to keep having sex or not."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. It's a risk with these things, but it's part of the deal. I just have to deal with it. Meanwhile, we need to get moving or we're going to be late for work."

Dan looked at the clock. "Crap. Yes, and I also need to swing by and get coffee for our Dark Lord and Master. Are you okay, though?"

"Yes. I'm good. I'm grateful for what we've shared. For what you've given me."

"But you're still coming to the party right? We talked to Linda and she's happy for you to come."

"Linda is the mom, I take it? Of Lucifer's nephew?"

"Yeah. You'll like her, she's great. Besides, you made a deal with the Devil. You can't back out now."

"I guess by then my head should be clearer. It's still a few weeks."

"Awesome." There was an awkward moment when Dan went to kiss him out of habit and he drew back. "Sorry, gotta run."

Dan's phone rang while he was in the shower. David let it go to answerphone and told Dan to check it when he got out. He was pulling on his pants with the phone tucked against his shoulder when he paused and his face fell. He hung up and sat staring at the screen.

"What's wrong?" David asked.

"Work. We got a case, Chloe wants me to go straight to the scene. I'm gonna have to call her back for a few details, do you mind?"

"I should get going anyway."

"Don't go just yet. I can't say much right now, but depending on what she says… just hang on, will you?"

"That sounds ominous."

"Yeah."

"I'll get the coffee on."

***

Dan got dressed and called Chloe back. The details were as he feared. Body found outside another church, female this time, her throat slit and blood drained. She had been there a few hours before she was found. They hadn't managed to identify her yet.

He walked into the kitchen where David sat at the table, sipping coffee. Dan took a seat next to him and picked up the second mug.

"So it's not good news. I've been given permission to tell you the basics as this looks like it's related to a previous case."

"Previous… oh my dear Satan."

Dan put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I know this is the last thing you want to hear right now. We can't say for sure yet, but there are similarities that suggest it could be related to Martin's case."

David pressed his fingers to his eyes. "Do you know who died?"

"Not yet. I'm really hoping I'm not going to be able to answer that question when I see her."

"Shit. Can I come with you?"

"Not onto the crime scene. If you want you can wait in the car, and I'll call you as soon as I know anything. I know it's not much, but there are procedures…"

"No, I get it. Look how about I just go to work and try not to think about it? It might not even be anything to do with Martin."

"Okay. If that's what you want."

"It is. But… if it's anyone we know…"

"I'll call you. I mean, you can't be a suspect, I'm your alibi."

"Thanks. I'm gonna go home and get suited up and ready for work. Good luck."

***

Dan pulled up the car as close as he could to the yellow tape, and ran over to the church. Lucifer appeared from out of nowhere and blocked his path, a hand resting on his chest.

"I'm sorry, love, but you mustn't go near there."

"Please. I just need to take a look and see if it's anyone I know."

Lucifer's face filled with pity. 

"It is, isn't it?"

"Daniel… it's Fiona."

 _Fiona._ The one person Lucifer would recognise, because he'd seen her in David's prayers, he and Chloe had walked in when they were… 

"No. No!" He tried to push his way past, but Lucifer held him firm. "I have to see her! I have to help!"

"You can't. Conflict of interest, the Detective sent me here knowing I was the only person who could stop you. You can't do anything here, love. Shall I take you back to the precinct?"

"Are you sure it's her?"

He nodded. "She has the tattoo. Three sixes hidden among roses."

"Fuck!" Dan fell onto Lucifer's chest and cried. And the Devil held him, and kissed his head, and sighed over the state of his Prada. Dan lifted his head. "I have to tell David."

Lucifer sighed again. "Soon."

"What?"

"We'll need to question him first."

"No! He was with me all night! He's not a suspect! And since when do you care about procedure?"

"Since it's not me who'll get into trouble if things get ugly. I'm trying to protect you, love. Are you going to do as I say, or do I have to use my Master voice?"

Dan pressed his eyes shut and tried to let go of the whirlwind behind his ribcage. His Master would take care of him. He was still a mess of emotions, but he had to trust Lucifer. 

"I promise you, Daniel, we will find the person responsible for this, and we will make them pay for it, one way or another." There was an edge of steel in his voice that cut through the fear and the grief, and Dan relaxed, knowing that he spoke the truth. Not that it helped Fiona now. 

"Thank you, Master," he said quietly. "I'll go. But you should stay and help Chloe."

Lucifer nodded. "And David?"

"I'll ask him to come to the station."

"Good boy."

The phrase shouldn't have made things better. But somehow it did.

***

David slumped over the table in the interrogation room, his face in his hands. He kept wishing Dan could be here next to him, but he was also glad for his own sanity that he wasn't. It would only make the feelings situation worse.

Instead, Chloe faced him with a sympathetic look, and Lucifer… he was oddly still, but emanating wrath. David thought that if anything or anyone got too close to him, they might catch fire.

It was hard to believe this was the same person he'd reduced to a string of incoherent letters the night before.

"Once we've got both your statements, you can go find Dan. But there are certain factors linking Fiona's death to Martin's, and unfortunately you knew both of them. And we need to figure out what else they had in common."

"So that you can catch the guy?"

"Yes. I've explained the details of the previous case to Lucifer. We suspected Martin's father had an accomplice, but we never found out who that was. After what happened today, it looks even more likely."

David looked up and addressed Lucifer directly. "I want to make a deal."

"You don't need a deal, David," Chloe said, "you're not a suspect."

His eyes stayed in Lucifer. "Not that kind of deal."

"Go on," Lucifer asked, curious.

"They were both yours. Someone has been targeting your people, and I have other friends who might be in danger."

"I've never sought out anyone's worship. I never laid claim to anyone except Daniel."

"And yet they were killed, probably because they had chosen you. When Martin's dad found out he was gay, he kicked him out the house. When he heard rumours about his new religion, the threats started. Fiona's story was similar, though she'd lived with it for longer. I need to know that none of my other friends are going to be targeted."

"I'm afraid I'm not omniscient. I can't watch over a hoard of people all at once. And I've only got one demon bodyguard to call on, and she's currently all wrapped up in playing house with my nephew."

"But you could warn them. Let them know what's going on, make sure they don't take any risks."

"And what would you offer in return?"

"I'll tell you everything I can think of. And I'll owe you."

"You're willing to write me a blank cheque? Even knowing who I truly am?"

"Especially knowing who you truly are."

Lucifer paused, bristling with intensity. "It might not be best coming from me. You weren't that impressed with me the first time we met, and if I reveal myself they'll be too busy having a crisis of faith to listen to anything I have to say. But I'm sure, under the circumstances, Daniel and the Detective could get the message across."

"Maybe," Chloe said. "But if one of them is the person responsible, we don't want to let them know we're onto them."

"I'm sure you can find a way to make it work, Detective."

"Okay. It's a deal."

"Fiona didn't live around here anymore. She grew up here- we were friends from our school days, but she left to go to law school. Sometimes she comes back to visit, and we… well, you know."

"Intimately," Lucifer said gruffly.

David nodded. "Right. But she was only planning on staying for a couple of weeks. She should have gone back by now."

"Did she say anything to indicate a change of plans?" Chloe asked. "Any messages or pictures on social media?"

"No. She's not been posting since you showed up at Dan's apartment. I thought she was just pissed at me for how it turned out, taking a break to get her head around shit, but… fuck. Has she been missing all this time?"

"We can look into that. She didn't have a phone on her, can you give us her number? Her Wobble account name?"

"Sure." He took the pen and paper Chloe offered and scribbled it down. "Shit. Who would do something like this?"

Chloe spared a quick glance at Lucifer. "You said she grew up here. Are her family still around?"

David's face grew stern and he wrote names and an address on the paper.


	8. Ask My Dad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation continues.

The information David provided was enough to track down Fiona's family, and officers were dispatched to their various places of work to bring them all in at the same time. 

Meanwhile, Ella checked up on all Fiona's accounts. She hadn't posted anything since the day after the Sharing, when she had a bit of an inexplicable rant about wolves guarding lambs and not being able to trust the judgement of friends. Her friends in LA assumed that she'd gone back home, and the people back home didn't think anything of it until she didn't come back to work as expected. 

The big question was- where had she been?

When the full autopsy report came in, the reason for her disappearance became clear. There were restraint marks on her wrists and ankles, sores under her clothes, and she'd been fed, but not well. Everything indicated she'd been kept captive in a small space with only the bare necessities. 

Chloe, Lucifer and Ella went to search the family home. They found an old bed in the basement, with traces of various bodily fluids on it, and ropes which Ella was certain would contain more of her DNA. No sign of a blood pool though. It looked like she'd been held there, but taken somewhere else for the murder.

"Why the Hell would anyone do this kind of fucked up shit to their own kid?" Ella asked the air.

"Good question," Lucifer replied, still seething. "You should ask my Dad."

Chloe took a step nearer to him as Ella spun and looked at him with compassion so intense it was like they were being held in a bubble. "I'm sorry, buddy. I didn't know." She didn't reach to touch him, but Chloe could see that she wanted to wrap him in her best hug ever. "I know now's not the time, but if you ever want to… you know… we can do shots or ice-cream or whatever."

"The short version is, I wasn't a fan of the way He controlled me. When I spoke out, I was punished for it. Cast out."

"That's where the name comes from, isn't it? It's not just an acting thing."

Lucifer gave a short, scoffing laugh. "No, Miss Lopez. It is most certainly not an acting thing."

"Well, I'll say this. Whatever happened to you then, you got through it, and you're one of the good guys now. You're a good person, Lucifer."

"You might not think that if you could see the things I'm imagining doing to Fiona's parents right now."

"I dunno. If it involves sticking hot pokers up their ass, I might join you."

Lucifer smiled fondly at the remark. "Perhaps we should let Maze interrogate them."

"Now that I'd like to see. Or on second thoughts, maybe not. I have a strong stomach, but even I have limits."

"No. I think I should do the interrogation myself. Detective? I think we've got enough here, don't you?"

"Sure. Ella, you okay to finish bagging and tagging?"

"Yeah. Only maybe send one of the unis down from upstairs. This is kinda creepy, down here."

***

David was waiting in the conference room. When Dan came in he jumped up and threw himself at him, and Dan held him as his body was wracked with sobs.

“It’s okay, buddy, I got you.”

“It’s not okay. It’s so far from okay!”

“I know. Shit, I know, and I’m sorry.”

“What did I do? Why does this keep happening to my friends? What if you’re next?”

“Hey,” Dan led him to a chair and crouched in front of him. “One, this is so not your fault. You can’t blame yourself. This is someone else’s doing. Two, if anyone tries to come for me, I have someone I can pray to, who will come and rip their arms off before he lets them hurt me.”

“But Fiona…”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

David crumbled all over again, and Dan gave him a shoulder and stroked his hair as he grieved.

***

Lucifer and Chloe questioned the father first. They presented him with photos from the basement and a look of grim determination spread over his face. "She needed to be taught a lesson."

Lucifer growled low in his throat. Chloe wondered if he was going to make it through the interviews without breaking something. Possibly the suspect. 

"Do you admit to kidnapping, Mr. Howard?"

"It hardly counts as kidnapping. She's my daughter. I was just doing what I thought was best for her."

"How is being tied to a bed for weeks good for anyone?"

"She was involved in with some very dangerous people. I was trying to protect her, make her see the trouble she was in."

"What kind of people?" Chloe asked. "Gangs? Violence and drugs?"

The man stared across the table at her. "Do you believe in God, Detective Decker? Do you believe that we all have a soul?"

"I do," she said simply, giving nothing away about her trips to Heaven and Hell.

"It was her soul I was trying to protect. It started with a girl. We thought they were just friends at first, but then we found them… kissing. We kept her at home, but she would sneak out. Come back drunk and smelling of cigarettes. In the end we told her if she couldn't abide by our rules, she could leave. She chose her lifestyle over her family." He paused.

"So why bring her back? Why do this?"

"We got word that she'd found a new group of people. Godless folk. They called themselves Satanists. It was one thing to let her go out like the prodigal son, but if she was involved in Devil worship, her soul was in mortal danger. We had to stop her. We had to save her." He gestured sincerely with an open hand.

"And how will she be saved now that she's dead?" Lucifer asked pointedly.

"She's dead?" His eyes went wide. "Oh, Heavens, no! How?"

"You must have known," Lucifer leaned towards him. "You were the one who killed her."

There were tears on the man's cheeks. He seemed genuinely upset. "She vanished in the night. I thought she'd escaped somehow. Like she used to. Oh, God!"

"Why do you think you're here, Mr. Howard?"

"Because I kept my daughter tied up in the basement. But I didn't mean for her… I didn't want…"

"What did you want? What's that fundamental desire that made you do such a terrible thing?"

"I wanted to put my family back together. I wanted my little girl home again."

Chloe and Lucifer looked at each other. _It wasn't him, was it?_ she prayed.

Lucifer shook his head. 

"Charles Howard," Chloe said, "I'm placing you under arrest for kidnapping. Wait here and someone will be in shortly to take a formal statement." She stood to leave.

"Wait! My daughter. What happened to her?"

"Someone killed her."

"Who?"

"That's what we're trying to find out."

***

Fiona's sister couldn't give them much information. She knew her parents had been "taking care of Sophia at home," but seemed oblivious as to what that entailed. She balked when they showed her the photos.

They went to see the mother next. She sat very primly with her hair pulled back and a small cross hanging from a chain on her neck.

"Good morning, Mrs. Howard. I'm Detective Decker, and this is Mr. Morningstar. We have some questions for you regarding your daughter. Do you know where she is?"

"No," the woman answered confidently, "but I have faith."

"Faith?"

"That she's somewhere better now. She was staying with us, but she left. She said she wanted to make a fresh start."

"She left?" Chloe echoed, pulling out the photos one by one. "How did she get away?"

Mrs. Howard took a breath but seemed unphased. "I let her go. She made her confession, she said she was going to leave her life of sin, so I let her go."

"Just like that? You had her tied up for weeks, and she says the right thing and you just… let her get up and stumble away?"

The smooth exterior started to crack.

"Where did she go? How did she get there? What was she wearing?"

"I called a cab. I paid in advance, sent her to the bus station so she could go home and rid it of her occult belongings."

"She must have been very weak. She'd been laid up all that time, with no exercise and very little to eat."

"We tried feeding her, but she refused. And we couldn't let her up, she kept trying to fight us, to run away."

"Is that why she had those bruises?" Lucifer broke in. "The marks on her belly and her face?"

"We tried to show her she was doing wrong, but it wasn't working. So we tried other things."

"You tried to beat a confession out of her?"

"She needed to repent!"

"What about the sores? Was she too violent to let her use the toilet? Too much effort to keep her clean? Or was that part of your plan too?"

"That's… that's her personal-"

He slammed the table and cut her off. "You tortured your daughter, Mrs. Howard. You kept her captive and you hurt her. The question is why? What did you desire to achieve?"

The woman succumbed to his power easily. "I wanted to save her soul. I wanted to bring her back to God."

"Do you think it worked?"

"She confessed. She repented."

"And how did you know she would stay that way?"

"Because I-"

"You what? How did you protect Fiona from sin?"

"I sedated her. As soon as she said it, I was ready. Then I took her somewhere else. And I… I made sure she would never do anything like that again." 

"Tell us what you did, Mrs. Howard."

"There was a ceremony. A kind of baptism. We annointed her, laid hands on her and prayed for her soul, and then… we sent her to Heaven. I slit her throat myself."

"Who helped you? Not your husband."

"No. He was a friend. A great man of God."

"This man of God told you to kill your own daughter?"

"It wasn't- I didn't- I helped purify her soul!"

"No!" Lucifer stood so quickly he tipped over his chair. "You filled her full of guilt for things she had no reason to be ashamed of. And then you sent her on a one way ticket a place where she'll relive that torment for all eternity!"

"No! I saved her soul!"

"You damned her soul!"

"Will you excuse us, Mrs Howard?" Chloe said with forced politeness and led Lucifer from the room.

"Look, I know she's guilty and she deserves to be punished, but we need her. She's not going to help us if you go all glowy eyed and she works out who you are."

"But she's guilty! She's done horrendous things!"

"So have lots of the people we interview, but you only get like this when it's personal. And I get why this hurts you, Lucifer, I do. But if we don't find the guy behind this, he's going to do it again and again, tearing up broken families and hurting people. So suck it up and save your wrath for the other guy. Before more of your people get hurt."

"They're not _my_ people, Detective."

"Not exactly. But you still feel something for them, don't you?"

Lucifer took a deep breath and pulled at his sleeves. "Right, well, let's go get some answers."

"In a minute. I think we both need a break, and it won't hurt if we let her stew for a while. Go find Dan and tell him to make us all coffee."

Lucifer strode over to the conference room and poked his head in. Dan and David both sat at the table with serious faces. David was tapping quickly on his phone. "There you are. We have a confession and a lead. The Detective and I need coffee. Well, she needs coffee, I'd prefer to get drunk but coffee will have to do."

"Yes Master," Dan said, already rising to his feet.

Lucifer frowned. "Are you all right love?"

"Um, not really. Why?"

"You just called me Master. You don't do that here."

"I guess I reverted to default mode. My brain's kinda fried by all this."

"Your default mode is to call me Master and do what I say?"

"I guess."

"Come here." Lucifer wrapped strong arms around him and breathed on his scent. "I love you," he whispered. "I'm going to look after you. As soon as possible I'm going to take you back to my place and give you a proper caning. Does that sound good?"

Dan shivered with relief. "That sounds wonderful, Dark Lord, thank you."

"Lovely." He looked over at David and spoke more clearly. "What about you, my little twink? How are you faring?"

"My oldest friend just got murdered, what do you think?"

Lucifer reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his flask. "This should help. Don't drink it all at once."

David accepted, looking slightly star struck. "Thanks. What do I owe you for this?"

"Can't I just be generous in a time of need?"

"I don't know yet. Traditionally not, but then there's so much about you that defies expectations."

"Call it a thank you for last night then."

"Right," he blushed, and then paled.

"Don't look so guilty. According to Daniel, you'd be the first to point out that you shouldn't judge yourself for having fun."

"It's the fact that we were doing that while she was…"

"Also out of your control. You had no way of knowing. And I don't want the events of today to spoil your memory of it. Keep it separate, treasure it, as I will."

"You…" David swallowed and bowed his head. "My Dark Lord. I'm honoured to be your servant."

"Don't do that. Be you. You're sassy, I like you that way."

"Right. I'll just get drunk on the Devil's drink then."

***

By the time they returned to Mrs. Howard she was sobbing. "I killed my daughter."

"You did. And you'll have to live with that," Chloe said. "You'll go to prison for it too. I'm not going to offer you any kind of deal, but you might find that a judge will be more generous with your sentence if you agree to help us."

"What do you want to know?"

"This man of God you mentioned. What can you tell us about him?"

"His name was Paul. I met him at church. He was new, said he'd recently moved to the city and was looking for a place to worship, where he could find true believers. We became friends and we told him about our family difficulties, asked him to pray for us and Fiona. One day he told us he'd had a vision that she was involved in dark magic, seeking out demons and devils. He said he would investigate it for us, and came back with examples of the things she'd been putting online, and photos of her meeting people who were openly Satanic. We tried to contact her, but she wouldn't reply. In the end, Paul said he had the answer. That drastic action needed to be taken."

"Did you plan to kill her from the beginning?"

"No. We just wanted her home and safe. But the longer we kept her, the more we realised how deep her corruption had become. Paul said if we let her go, there was too great a risk she would return to her old lifestyle. He said she'd been involved in Satanic orgies!"

"So we heard," Chloe said diplomatically. "We'll need to know where you took Fiona for the ceremony."

"It was an old abandoned church. The one where that priest was killed a few years ago."

Lucifer stiffened. Chloe prayed calm at him.

"I know the one. Do you have Paul's number? A photo? An address?"

"Yes, I have his number and address in my phone, I can give them to you. But no photos. He was always camera shy."

"Would you be able to give a description to a sketch artist?"

"Yes. Whatever helps. He wasn't really a man of God, was he?"

"No. No I don't think he was."

Mrs. Howard began to cry. "I'm so sorry!"

"Let's just hope we can find him before he does this to anyone else."

***

David stared blankly at the sketch in front of him, a generic face with straight hair and a full beard. "I don't think I recognise him. I was afraid I would, but this guy… I dunno. There's something familiar about him, but I don't know him."

"Fiona's mother said a man named Paul who looked like this was the one who influenced her to murder," Chloe explained. "We believe he may have been working with Martin's family too. If you don't know him, that's good news, in a way. It means it might just be a coincidence that you knew both victims. Unfortunately it doesn't get us closer to finding him."

"I take it he's no longer taking calls?"

"Number we got was no longer available. We'll go and check his address this afternoon, but we're not hopeful. Forensics will go over his place and the church where she was killed and we might get some fresh leads."

David nodded. "Can we take a copy of this to show my friends? I've invited them all to come to mine tonight, so you can talk to them."

Chloe and Dan exchanged a glance. "We'll tell them to be careful, but we can't show them the picture. This guy had to get his information from somewhere. We can't take the risk of him going into hiding if there's a leak in the group. We can't tell them how much we know."

"I get it. And this guy needs to pay for what he's done. But I don't want to lose anyone else."

"It won't come to that," Lucifer promised him.


	9. I have a really bad plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As leads run dry, a very bad plan is formulated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, bad news, a cough in the household means I'm stuck in the house for two weeks.  
> Good news, I've decided to combat boredom by posting more regularly. Possibly even a chapter a day.  
> I have a few ready and waiting. ;)

Paul's apartment was almost empty by the time they got there. No clothes, no books, no personal effects or electric devices. There was half a carton of milk in the refrigerator. Lucifer grumbled and said it was an epic waste of time, but Ella hushed him.

"Look, buddy, I know it doesn't look like much on the first sweep, but trust me. I'll get out my box of tricks and see what we've got. Oh, bingo!" She grinned as she spotted the trash can. "You noob, you forgot to take out the trash. Now you're mine."

Her purple gloves delved into it and started picking things out, taking photos and bagging them. Food containers, receipts and even a plastic fork. Her focussed excitement was something to see. Then her mouth went wide and after a quick snap she held up a scrap of paper- a crumpled page with almost half of it torn off. "Duuuuude!"

"What have you found?" Chloe asked.

"A photo of our victim. And isn't that Dan's friend with her?"

"It is," Lucifer agreed after looking at it carefully. The ink was smudged but it was definitely David. "Who the Hell prints out pictures these days? And what kind of idiot murderer doesn't dispose of such incriminating evidence properly?"

"Well, it's circumstantial at best," Chloe pointed out. "But it might be useful. Are there any other pictures in there?"

"Nah, looks like he just ditched this one because it was damaged."

Chloe shook her head slowly. 

"What are you thinking, Detective?"

"Like you both said, this is a stupid mistake. It doesn't fit. He manipulated those families so carefully, he's clearly spent a long time planning this. It's been almost a year between the two murders. He must have had a plan for his exit after it was done, too."

"Unless this was part of his plan," Lucifer suggested. "Think about the bodies. Both of them out on display like a work of art. He's proud of what he's done, and he wants it to be seen. This could be a deliberate message."

"Hang on, I can tell you if it is," Ella reached into her kit and pulled out her dusting powder and a brush. She went straight to the bathroom, leaned over the toilet and started working on the handle for the flush. "If he was in a rush and being careless, there's going to be prints. He might have thought to run them off the door handle, but amateurs don't always think about the toilet." She frowned. "Huh. It's clean. Of course I'll have to round and check everywhere, but it looks like he wanted us to think David was important."

"The question is, do we tell David?"

"Let's talk to Dan first."

***

They stood around Chloe's desk and showed Dan the picture. He dragged a hand down his face and put his hands on his hips. "So you think this is a message."

"We think he wants us to believe that David is involved somehow," Chloe explained. 

"No," Dan countered. "It's more specific than that. He's letting us know he's specifically targeting David's partners."

"Why do you think that?"

"Look at them. The way they're leaning into each other, it's flirtatious. They were friends, but this makes it look like more. And you can see one of his tattoos. I'll bet anything Fiona's parents have already seen this picture."

"But David and Martin were just friends, weren't they?"

Dan pressed his lips together and shook his head. "They kept it quiet, but it was starting to get serious." He sighed. "I have a really bad plan."

"No," Lucifer said quickly and firmly.

"Look, normally that word from you would be enough to stop me, but please, at least hear me out."

"Detective, please explain to him why this is far too dangerous."

"Dan, are you really suggesting we use you as bait?"

"I am. Look, this guy doesn't come at people directly, he subverts the families to do his dirty work for him. I'm on good terms with mine, so they're not going to be easily led, and if he approaches them, they'll tell me. And if there's any trouble I can call Lucifer straight away and I don't even need a phone. But we need to lure him out, and if he doesn't go for me, he might go for one of David's other friends. This is our best option."

Chloe put a finger to her lips and nodded. "I think you make some very good points. But let's just wait and see if we get anything from any of the other leads. We might get lucky on the DNA and we can still take this picture to Martin's dad and see if he's ready to give us any more information."

***

David had been sending messages all day and managed to arrange an emergency meeting for that evening at his apartment. Lucifer was waiting in the car, linked in via earbud. Chloe and Dan arrived to find them all gathered in the small living room, squashed on the sofa and sitting on dining chairs and even cushions on the floor. They were an odd mix of people- different ages and races, mostly in very normal looking clothes aside from one blue-haired goth lady who stood and offered her chair. Chloe nodded and thanked her and sat down, looking around the group. They all had one thing in common, which was a look of confusion and worry.

“Hi,” she began, suddenly unsure where to start. She needed to help them trust her. “I’m Chloe. I don’t know if Dan’s told you much about me, but I’m his ex-wife. We work together too, I’m a detective with the LAPD. I’m here tonight at David’s request because he wanted me to warn you. There’s been another murder. I can’t tell you too much about it, but I can tell you that it was a person who shared your religion. We believe someone is targeting Satanists. I want to encourage all of you to be extra careful. Please let us know if anyone you don’t know contacts you and makes allegations or asks questions.”

A younger man scoffed. Chloe turned to him. “What are you thinking?”

“Only that there’s nothing unusual about that. For those of us that are open about our religion, we get shit like that all the time. Especially online. People think a Satanist blog is a good place to preach their own agenda.”

She nodded. “That’s not exactly surprising, but it’s important. If any of you have websites like that, or social media where you’ve been targeted, we’d appreciate it if you’d let us look through them.”

The man frowned. “That’s a lot to wade through.”

“This is important. We’ll put a team on it.” She glanced at Dan, who stood behind her. 

He nodded. “I’ll help.” 

“Thanks.” She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “It might not be someone you don’t know. It could be someone you haven’t spoken to in a while, maybe even a family member. We think that there’s one person behind the attacks, but he’s acting indirectly. Don’t accept any invitations from anyone you don’t completely trust. If you’re unsure, meet somewhere public, and take a friend with you. Be extra careful.”

There was nodding, and shuffling, and a few sighs. 

“I know this is a lot to take in. I’m going to go now, so you can talk freely, but Dan’s going to stay and he can answer your questions. And please feel free to contact me with any concerns. We’re doing all we can to stop this happening again. Thank you for coming, and for listening.” She stood and stroked Dan’s arm as she turned to go.

The room filled up with silence. The blue-haired girl, Abigail, raised her head. “Can we pray?”

“Yeah,” Dan nodded, gripping the back of the empty chair. “Yeah, I think that’s a really good idea, actually.”

David looked up at him. “Will you lead us?”

“Me? I don’t- I’ve never prayed in public.”

“But you know things. And we’re scared. We don’t know what to say.”

Dan licked his lips and bowed his head. _”Dark Lord,”_ he prayed as he spoke aloud, _”I know you hear me. Your people are frightened. People who love and revere you, even if they can’t know you completely. Hear our prayers, Lucifer, and help us find comfort and strength. Lend us your courage.”_

_”Again, not my people,”_ came the voice in his ear. _”Nevertheless, I’ll give you ten minutes.”_

_”Thank you, Master.”_

One by one, they found their voices. Pleas for help, for courage and wisdom. And their hearts filled with prayer, and rose up and something strange happened. There was a sense of connection between all those gathered, like a thread of light joining their souls, and a real assurance that they were heard. 

The ten minutes passed quickly, and Dan tactfully drew them to a close. The group members looked at one another, unsure whether to speak of the connection or not, but David knew and understood. “Lucifer has accepted our prayers. He will turn the hunter into the hunted, and he will see that he is punished. We will not be afraid. Now, who wants cookies?”

***

The fork and food containers from the trash were completely devoid of DNA. The receipts were all very generic apart from the fact they were paid in cash. The entire apartment had been cleaned of useful prints too.

Chloe refused to take Lucifer with her to the prison. There was too great a risk that it would trigger his daddy issues and he'd get them both into a lot of trouble. He'd been bad enough with Mrs. Howard, but this would be pushing it.

The trip was a waste of time anyway. The guy seemed to be clinging even harder to his own sense of self-righteousness and his religious ideals. He admitted nothing.

They were almost back to square one. Chloe talked to Lucifer and they finally agreed that Dan's plan was their best option.

"So we're doing this?" he asked when she explained the situation. 

"Yes. I don't like it, but it's a good plan. We'll have to put you and David both under discreet surveillance," she told him.

"It will have to be super discreet. It won't work if there's a van following me around all the time."

Lucifer gave him a long, hard stare. "I can invest in some special equipment," he agreed with an air of reluctance. "But I want you to check in with me at regular intervals. We'll also need to check if I can still hear David if he's not with you. After last night I'm starting to think you're some kind of diabolic prayer booster. I could hear all of them, quite distinctly."

"Hey, thank you for that. It meant a lot to everyone."

"I know. I could feel that too. Which is one reason why I'm agreeing to this. I need to protect them."

Dan sent a quick, wordless prayer of gratitude, but said nothing.

***

Once Dan was alone at his desk, he picked up the phone to call David. “Hey, you wanna come over tonight?”

There was a heavy pause. “I said I couldn’t do that anymore. And after everything that’s happened, it feels like a doubly bad idea.”

“Shit. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… look, we’ve got a plan, and you’re going to absolutely hate it, but it might help us catch this Paul guy.”

“Why would I hate it if it helps?”

“Because… how about we meet up somewhere else and I can explain it to you. This isn’t exactly an over the phone kind of conversation.”

“Okay. The cafe at the bookstore?” There were plenty of bookstores, but Dan knew which one he meant- it specialised in occult texts.

“Sure. Can you come by straight from work?”

***

The cafe was dark and hidden in a quiet nook at the back of the store. It was quiet, too. Dan waited until they had their drinks before he began.

“Okay, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m gonna just say it. We found a picture of you and Fiona at Paul’s apartment. We think he left it there on purpose. It turns out you might be a stronger connection that we first suspected.”

“Shit. Why me?”

“We don’t know yet, but it got me thinking about something you said. What if I’m next?”

“You’re worried you might be targeted?”

Dan sipped his coffee. “No. I was wondering if we could fix it so I _was_ targeted. Deliberately.”

“You mean like use yourself as bait?”

“Exactly.”

“You’re right, I hate it.”

“It gets worse. We need to sell it. Without knowing where he’s getting his information from, we’ll have to share the story that we’re partners wherever you said anything about Fiona or Martin. That means online and in real life.”

David carefully put his drink to one side and bent forward to bang his head on the table. He breathed a heavy sigh and sat up again. “You want me to fake date you? When I’m already trying not to have feelings?”

“I know it’s not ideal. Hell, it’s fucking awkward, and I’m sorry. But it’s our best chance of finding him. And Lucifer will keep us safe. We just have to pray, and he’ll come whooshing in.”

“He would for you.”

“For you too. That reminds me, you need to try praying sometime when I’m not there. Make sure it’s not just me that makes it work.”

“Will do. Do any of them know? About what I said yesterday morning?”

“No. That can stay between us if you want it to.”

David nodded. “It’s personal. But on the other hand, if he finds out I’ve been hiding things from him…”

“If you want to tell him, that’s okay too.”

“I’ll think about it. Meanwhile.” He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and held it up for a selfie, pulling Dan in to kiss his cheek. “I think this is officially our first date.”


	10. A thing of beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and David pretend to date.  
> Lucifer has his own ideas.

The investigation was grinding to a standstill. For want of anything better to do, Dan spent the next few days looking through first Martin’s and then Fiona’s online profiles. Martin’s was small- he was very private about sharing his personal life and didn’t make any direct references to his religion. Fiona was another case altogether. She made no attempts to hide her religion, in fact she seemed to be deliberately trying to catch trolls. And she caught a lot of them. Dan read through comment after comment, endless debates on Twitter and Wobble, and despaired of finding anything that might be Paul or being able to recognise it even if he did. He had to keep going though, just in case.

He found the picture of her and David that had been in the trash. It was posted on her Wobble account about eight months ago. That’s how long this had been planned. Dan really hoped that it wouldn’t take that long for Paul to make a move on him. He scrolled through the comments section- they were mostly from friends saying they looked like they were having fun or joking about how they made a cute couple. A few were from overly enthusiastic zealots from the other side of the religious coin. Fiona had given as good as she got. Dan checked through their profiles anyway, only to find a string of hate and bigotry. He knew a lot of what he read was based on myths and not the Devil in person, but it was still hard to read. He rested his head in his hands, massaging his temples.

He felt a warmth behind him and a pair of strong hands worked his shoulders. “Well, they’ve got one thing right, I am one for drunkenness and debauchery,” said a cheerful voice behind him. “But I’m not particularly keen on sacrifice, it’s hard to get the bloodstains out of my Armani.” 

Dan chuckled and raised his head.

“Are you all right love?”

“Yeah, thanks. Just spent three days reading through your hate mail. It’s tedious and annoying and insulting. I’m trying to remember not to take it personally, but every so often I consider punching the screen.”

“You should go and see Miss Lopez. She’s always disgustingly cheery. And as much as I hate to admit it, her hugs do have a certain restorative quality.”

“I won’t tell her you said that. But it’s a good idea. Maybe I could stop by your place later for some of your restorative hugs too.”

“You know I would enjoy that very much, but you’re under cover. You can’t be seen stopping at my place when you’re supposed to dating David.”

“Why not? It’s not like he’s known for being monogamous.”

“But the more serious your relationship seems, the more likely it is that Paul will take the bait. I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with phone sex for the time being.”

“Damn. Maybe I’ll take David out somewhere instead. Make the bait extra tasty. I have discovered that picture on Wobble, though, so we know he’s getting at least some of his information from there.”

“Well done, Detective Espinoza. Don’t forget to call me later.”

Dan found Ella hunched over a microscope in her lab. “Hi. I’m going square-eyed in front of that screen, you wanna take a break and coffee with me?”

“Sure. You can tell me all the goss on your fake boyfriend," she teased as they walked to the break room.

"Really, Ella?"

"Uh-huh! I mean, he's a Satanist, right? Each to their own, but that's gotta be a little weird."

Dan's brain stalled as he realised she had no idea he'd been going to the meetings. They'd been to one last night, and David had held his hand after prayers and given him a look like he was the most beautiful creature in the world. Dan wasn't sure if he meant it, or if it was all part of the act. Luckily Ella kept talking before he was expected to answer.

"Then again, you're actually dating a guy who thinks he's the Devil, so maybe not. What's that like?"

Dan grinned as he looked for two clean mugs. "It's fucking awesome."

"So he's every bit as good as they say he is?"

"Better." He found a couple that were passable and filled them from the pot, which was miraculously full for once. "But I'm not sharing details."

"Damn! And Chloe's really okay with it?"

"Uhm, yeah. She seems fine."

"You're blushing. Why are you blushing?" She sipped her coffee. "Mm. Actually no, wait. I don't think I want to know."

"You really don't."

"Man. No offence, but your life is weird, dude."

"Aren't you supposed to be cheering me up?"

"But weird isn't bad though. Some people might think I'm weird. Based on my job, some of my past hobbies, and my… well, anyway. Normal is boring. Boo normal. You have an unusual arrangement, sure, but it's making you happy. And anyone who tries to tell you otherwise should mind their own."

"Thanks. That does help."

"Come here, bring it in." She held out her arms. 

Dan stepped up and let himself be held. Even with them both holding mugs, the warmth of Ella's hugs was always amazing. He'd missed this. It hadn't been quite the same since they'd slept together, but she seemed to relax a bit now that she knew he was taken.

"It's just all so new. And now all this going on with David. I'm wondering if I'm out of my depth."

"Nah, you got this, bud." She tapped him affectionately and let him go. 

"Yeah. I can do the thing. I can do all the things."

"That's the spirit."

***

_So you know when you meet someone and they're a really good friend, and you have all the important stuff in common, but they're just different enough to make them interesting? And you spend months hanging out, doing regular stuff, and it feels extra fun because they're with you. And every so often they say something that's just so insightful it makes you stop and look at things from a completely different perspective. And of course, they're gorgeous, and sometimes you sleep with them, but it's all in fun. And then one morning you wake up with them and your heart melts and it just feels right._

_Well, maybe you don't. But that's Dan. It turns out that the guy I thought was just a friend is actually the love of my life._

_And yeah, I know it's not like me to get all feelsy and I expect there are many of you out there who are epically disappointed in me right now. But he's perfect._

_He's brave, and he helps people. In some ways, he's a bit of prude, and I have such fun corrupting him, but he also has this chaotic energy, like he can be a total rebel badass if you give him the right reason. He's kind. He cares about people, even when he has no idea how to show it. His body is a work of art, with emphasis on the_ werk. _I think his most beautiful assets are his eyes though. One day he just looked at me with those baby blues like I was the most precious thing in the world, and I knew I was done._

_We share a special kind of faith. Neither of us has all the answers, but we keep looking. But from now on, we're looking together._

_Now I don't believe in destiny. If there's some deity up there trying to plan out my life he can take a long walk off a short plank. The stars don't decide my fate, I do. And I'm choosing this guy._

_He's the one._

***

"He does make it very believable," Lucifer noted as he read David's latest Wobble post. He was leaning over Dan's shoulder to see the screen and they could both feel the warmth of each other's bodies. "Are you sure he's just a friend?"

"Uh…" Dan swallowed. He hadn't mentioned it out of respect for David's wishes, but he also couldn't lie to his Master. "So here's the thing. Before this investigation started me and David were about to take a break. He felt like it was getting… complicated."

"So he does have feelings for you?" Lucifer turned and sat on the edge of the desk, watching Dan flounder.

"Little, small feelings. Just like embryonic, really. And we're not sleeping together anymore. So as not to confuse things. But we've posted pictures from three dates and there's been no response. We can't keep this up for the time it would normally take this guy. So over the weekend we decided we needed to speed things up a bit. Make it look more serious."

"Well it certainly does that. But I think you may need to re-evaluate your plan. If you're doing all this romantic stuff and not shagging, it's not going to help his situation."

"You're not upset then?"

"Why would I be upset?"

"Because I'm pretending to date a guy who might be falling in love with me?"

"You're mine. He can't exactly steal you away. And it's all just for the case, isn't it?"

Dan's heart seized painfully. In a good way. "Yeah. Just for the case."

Lucifer sighed. "It does pose a problem though. I thought you were still getting laid while I'm relegated to the background, but if not I'll have to think of another solution."

"It's okay. I've gone through much longer dry spells."

"Not while you're my partner, you haven't. Both of you come to LUX tonight. I'll see if I can kill two birds with one stone."

Dan gaped at him. For a moment he was about to argue, but then he dropped his eyes in submission. He could trust Lucifer. Especially when it came to sex. And after the intensity of the start of their new relationship, he was feeling the beginnings of frustration. 

"Yes," the word Master went unspoken at work, but the intention was felt anyway.

"Lovely. I'll see you there."

***

"Why have you never brought me here before?" David asked as he sipped his cocktail and took in the lights and the music and the sea of attractive people.

"Probably because it would have been complicated," Dan joked.

David laughed. "Yep. But it's settled down now, right?"

"Hmm," Dan pondered with an uncertain tilt of his head. "I'm not so sure. I've got a confession to make. Lucifer saw your post and asked me directly about your feelings. I couldn't lie to him. I'm sorry."

"Right. Well, that's embarrassing, but I'll get over it. So why are we here?"

"Because once I told him we weren't… you know… he got some kind of plan into his head. I don't know what it is, but I'm pretty sure it involves sex of some kind. Not an actual threesome, because Chloe would never go for that, but there may be orgasms. And I'm telling you up front because it's you, and if you decide that this is a bad idea, you are absolutely free to go home. No harm, no foul."

David gave him a long, hard stare as he slowly drained his glass. "Fuck it," he said. "I'm in. I'd rather regret doing something than sit at home wondering what I missed."

"Awesome."

"We should take another selfie while we wait for him though. And I want to sit on your lap."

He opened an extra shirt button and flopped onto Dan's thighs, leaning back against his chest and with one arm raised to stroke his face. Dan curled both his arms around David's slighter frame, his short sleeves showing off his biceps to best advantage. The flash went off and David showed Dan the picture.

"Shit. If you weren't off the menu, I would totally be using that for me time later."

Dan gave a self-conscious chuckle. "Thanks."

David slid from his lap, and as if on cue, Lucifer appeared. 

"Good evening, gentlemen. I trust you're having fun so far?" He noticed David's empty glass and raised his hand with a glance at the bar, and then slipped into the booth beside them. "Now, about this evening. How much of an exhibitionist are we all feeling?"

Dan lowered his eyes bashfully, but David grinned. "What's our scale?"

"I want to make sure you both come at least once tonight. The question is, would you like to do it in the middle of the dance floor, a quiet corner of the club, or upstairs?"

They were given a moment to consider as one of the bar staff arrived with a tray of drinks. It also carried a black gift bag with a shiny red ribbon, but no one mentioned it. Dan sipped the whisky Lucifer handed him. It gave off a smooth heat in his throat without burning. "I want to say upstairs, but then again, I might manage a quiet corner? So long as no one notices?"

Lucifer leaned across David to kiss Dan gently. David gave a tiny groan. "Dance floor," he said decisively, "discreetly, of course. Wouldn't want to get arrested or anything."

"I could take some pictures if you like. You can peruse them before decide if you want any of them posted online."

"So you're doing this for the benefit of the case?" David clarified. 

"The sooner we draw the suspect out, the sooner I get my boyfriend back. But I also like the idea of getting you both off, as a thank you for your prayers last week."

"Wow. Okay. Let's play. Dan, are you in?"

"When it comes to Lucifer, I'm always in. I mean, um…"

"That's all right love. Now, in the interests of discretion, I've brought you each a present. You'll need to pop into the gents to get them where they need to be. I'm sure you can help each other out with that."

David and Dan exchanged glances. David raised an eyebrow. "What happens if I start getting feely again?"

"Stopping is always an option. Enthusiastic consent and all that. But there are two lessons that I want you to take home with you tonight."

"Which are…?"

"You'll know by the end of the evening."

David grinned.

"I like that smile. What's it for?"

"This. All of this. I've spent years trying to learn the truth about you, to make your values my own. And now I'm sitting in your club, and here you are, seducing me and teaching me. It's like a dream come true only better."

"Everything is always better when I'm involved, darling, especially when it involves sex. Now, be a dear and let me watch you snog Daniel."

David shrugged and leant back, pulling Dan's face towards him. He could feel Dan's hunger already, in the deep pressure of his lips and the darting movements of his tongue. David found himself kissing back with increasing urgency. He'd been denying himself all week and the lust seemed to flood him all at once.

Just lust though. That was a relief.

"Lovely. Nothing like a bit of passion to get the blood pumping. That's enough now." Lucifer leaned over David again, who got a close view of the Devil kissing his chosen disciple. So close he could hear their lips smacking above the music.

"Fuck, that's hot."

Lucifer pulled Dan's bottom lip between his teeth and sat back. He stood and handed them the bag. "Off you go and slip in something comfortable. Come back here when you're ready, I'll be waiting."

There were a few stalls to choose from. They picked the one furthest from the door, which was also the largest. The contents of the bag were as expected- two medium sized plugs and a few sachets of lube. The plugs were black, tapered silicone, and Dan recognised the design. It was the same kind he'd worn to the cafe with Lucifer, and for the date with Chloe. 

"You first," Dan said, tugging at David's belt. He pulled his jeans down and around his thighs and turned him to the wall. His slick fingers searched between David's cheeks, finding his hole and helping him relax into it with kisses on his neck.

"That's good," David whispered. "I'm ready."

Dan picked up one of the plugs and pushed it in slowly. He pressed his palm against the flat base and gently rocked it. David hummed and Dan stepped back and wiped his fingers with some toilet paper. He watched as David pulled his briefs back up (bright turquoise this time) and refastened his jeans. 

"Now you."

David kissed Dan full on the lips as he unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them out the way. Dan put his hands on the wall and bent forward a little.

"Shit. Do I get to touch you inside finally?" He kept his voice low and close to Dan's ear.

"Yeah. I think that was implicit."

"Fuck." He slid a finger in. "Fuck! You're tight."

"It's still kinda new. Lucifer's doing his best to train me up though."

"I'll bet he is. Shit, can I just take a moment to play with you?"

"Be gentle. People might hear."

Dan bit his lip to stay quiet as David stroked him. It felt good, like he was exploring. Dan shivered. "Okay, that's enough or I'm going to struggle to get my jeans back up."

David chuckled softly and swapped his fingers for the plug. It felt large as it went in, but once it was fully seated it was just a pleasant stretch. He took a few breaths where he was and then pulled his underwear back up, tucking his slightly swollen cock to one side. David kissed him again as he buttoned his jeans.

"Ready to go back to the Devil?" Dan asked.

"Yes. Let's do this."

They stopped to wash their hands, and two more guys smiled at them and took their place in the end stall.

Lucifer was nursing his drink with his arms draped wide along the back of the banquette. "Welcome back, boys. What took you so long?'

"My fault," David admitted. "I wanted to stop and play."

"Excellent. Was it fun?"

"Yeah."

Lucifer patted the seat on either side of him. They parted and sat down. "Have a drink."

Lucifer watched their faces as he activated the vibrations. Dan was expecting it, and David wasn't completely surprised. They licked their lips simultaneously and smiled.

"This is certainly going to get interesting," David noted.

"I'm glad you like it. I don't think you realise quite how spectacular your prayers were. I felt all of you- Chloe too- all at once. My whole body shook with your orgasms. It didn't feel right that I wasn't able to return the favour. I'm going to make up for that now."

He touched something in his palm and David shivered as the buzzing in his ass increased briefly.

"And as for you, love," he turned to Daniel, "I intend to make sure you're very well taken care of." He moved his other hand and it was Dan who quivered this time. "The question is, who gets to come first? Because you both want different things."

"David can go first. I'm still feeling shy."

"Well then, get over it. David, I think you need to get back in his lap and snog him some more."

"As my Lord commands," David said, half mockingly, as he walked around the table to straddle Dan. He took Dan's face in both hands and gazed at him. "You are damn pretty, you know. And I am captivated by those eyes. Just being near you makes my blood run hot." He pressed his head against Dan's, brushing noses and feeling his breath. They both gasped, and it was Lucifer's doing. "I haven't even dared to touch myself this last week, in case I started picturing you, wanting more from you. But I think Lucifer has the right idea. Abstinence is making me crazy. So I say fuck it all, what will be will be, and we'll deal with that if and when. Okay with you?"

"Yes. Fuck! I want you. Kiss me."

They heard Lucifer purr as they kissed roughly- hard, urgent kisses, pulling away so their eyes could meet only to lean into each other again. Dan hooked his thumbs through the back of David's belt, grabbing his ass and pulling him closer. David curled his hips and Dan moaned when a hard length brushed on his belly.

"Slow down darling," Lucifer said softly. "The night is young. There's plenty of time."

"Fuck!" David pressed against Dan once more, harder this time, and then sat back. "Okay, but please don't keep me waiting too long."

"Very well. Why don't you make your way to the dance floor? I'll have you coming by the fourth track. I want you to stay facing each other, and you can grind up on Daniel as much as you like. I'll be watching."

David glanced at Lucifer and nodded, but his eyes were fixed in Dan as he stood and took his hand, leading the way. There was dance music playing tonight. David bounced around to the first track; they moved closer during the second and were pressed together, kissing, by the third. David had danced with a plug in before, but not one controlled by the Devil. Magic things were happening inside him. Dan's tongue was everywhere, in his mouth and on his neck and up by his ear. Hands disappeared under shirts. He could feel Dan was hard too, and he pulled their hips together tightly, moving to the beat. The fourth track was a classic. He was rocking up against Dan shamelessly now, their lips fastened together as the pressure built.

_"I can't get no sleep…"_

His ass was beyond tingling, and his cock ached, and the music grew up into a crescendo. He clutched Dan's face, catching his gaze with a few final quick thrusts. Dan's eyes widened as David tensed and shuddered and finally grew still. They kissed once more, deep and lingering, and when they parted David was smiling.

Dan leant to speak into his ear. "Did that really just happen?"

"If you mean did I just come in my pants, then yes, it totally did."

"We should probably go clean that up."

"Not yet. I have to thank Satan first."

He pulled Dan by the hand back to their table, and Lucifer's eyes were still on them.

"That was quite the performance," he noted. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. I feel so much better. I think I'm still buzzing."

"Apologies, that would be my present. Would you prefer me to turn it off?"

"Not completely. Maybe just a low tingle."

Lucifer complied, and David leant back with a sigh.

"Don't get too comfortable. I still need your help with Daniel."

"Of course."

"How are you feeling love?"

"Horny. And nervous."

"There's no need for nerves. I'm looking after you, remember?"

"Yes Dark Lord."

"Finish your drink."

Lucifer cranked up the vibrations as he obeyed. The warmth of the drink spread all the way down chest, meeting the heat rising from his lower regions. 

"Good boy." He pointed to the far end of the club, away from the bar and the dancing girls. “In a moment, we’re all going to go over there. David’s going to press you up into that curtain and kiss you. I’m going to watch from nearby, and play with my little button. And we’re going to stay there until you’ve made a mess of your pants. Agreed?”

“Yes Master,” Dan said, his voice trembling.

“Off you trot.”

David led Dan into the corner and turned him so that his back was to the wall. The curtain didn’t hide them completely, but it at least made it feel more secluded. David pressed closer, placing his feet either side of Dan’s, and started kissing him. Dan scanned for Lucifer and found he wasn’t far away, leaning casually on a pillar with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his glass. The buzzing increased intensely as their eyes met, and then subsided again as Lucifer smiled. He smiled back.

David felt the pull on his lips and looked up at him, following his gaze. “I should be mad that you’re staring at him while you’re supposed to be here with me, but I’m not. I think I just figured out one of my lessons though. You look as much as you want.”

His hands were under Dan’s shirt, stroking his skin, and he was nipping gently at his ear. He pushed forward, pressing their bodies tighter and Dan’s hips tilted against him, seeking friction. “Shit!” he gasped, embarrassed at his own need.

“It’s okay, gorgeous, we got you.”

“What if someone notices?”

“They’re all too busy having their own fun. And if anyone does look this way, all they’re gonna see is two guys making out. There’s only one person who knows what we’re doing, and that’s not embarrassing, that’s just hot.”

“Fuck.” Dan fixed his eyes on Lucifer again and let his hips do what they wanted, which was to keep grinding on David. He was rewarded with such sweet sensations inside. David kissed him until he was gasping. He broke apart for air.

“You getting close?”

“Yeah. Shit, that feels good. I just don’t know if I can, you know?”

“It’s okay. We got time. Just enjoy it. I know I am.”

“Even though you’re already done?”

“Yeah, I might have already had mine, but it’s still fantastic watching you squirm. And of course, serving our Dark Lord Satan.”

The mention of the name alone made Dan’s hips work faster. He held David tightly around the waist, and kissed him fiercely. He kept it up for a few minutes, but then pulled his face back with a groan.

“I can feel how tight you’re strung. He’s really working that plug, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“And your cock is just throbbing against me.” David’s hand was on his chest, resting over the hidden scars.

“It is. I’m so fucking close, I want to come so bad.”

The hand slid down his torso to the front of his jeans. It palmed his aching cock and squeezed it. “How’s that?”

“Ugh! Yeah, that’s good. Keep doing that.” He tucked his face into David’s neck and rocked with short, quick thrusts, desperately trying to keep it discreet.

David whispered in his ear. “Uh-uh, no hiding. Heads up. I wanna see your face when it happens, and so does he.”

Dan whimpered but raised his head. His lips were parted, gasping for breath, and his brow was creased with desperation. He groaned again, trembling with need, and then his eyes left David’s face to look at Lucifer. He ground to a halt, mouth going wide, and shook with the force of his release. Lucifer grinned at him, and gave him a final burst of intensity before winding it down again.

Dan looked back at David and touched his face gently. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I think we need to report back.”

“Give me a minute. I’m not sure if my legs are working yet.”

Lucifer approached them anyway. “That was a thing of beauty. I take it we’re now all satisfied?”

“We are,” David said. “What about you?”

“I’ve got plenty of material for the wank bank when I decide to retire for the night. I’d ask you to stay, but I have a feeling you might both want to go home and change clothes.”

“Yeah,” Dan said with a grin. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“And David, can you tell me what you’ve learned?”

“Lesson one, this is still fun. Dan is good for me, and I shouldn’t let my fears of what could go wrong stop me from enjoying myself.”

“And lesson two?”

“He’s yours. Through and through. And I can never hope to compete with that, and I don’t want to.”

“You’re a very good student. You have permission to keep playing with him for now, but there may come a time when that’s no longer the case.”

“Understood. But for now… Dan?”

“Yeah?” 

“Would you like to stay at my place tonight?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m not handling things well on my own. I’d like some company.”

“I’d like that too.”

“Lovely,” Lucifer said, running a gentle hand down Dan’s back. “All sorted then. Enjoy the rest of your evening, my darlings. I know I will.”


	11. True Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone takes the bait.

When Dan got back to David's place, it reminded him of the first time he'd been there. He'd sat on the sofa and lost any claim to being straight as David knelt between his knees. They'd come so far since then, but he found himself feeling that same nervous awkwardness as David kicked off his shoes and unbuttoned his shirt. 

"If we stick all this in the machine, you can wear it home in the morning."

"And I'll be naked."

"That's just an added bonus."

"Fuck it," Dan said and took off his clothes. The mess in his underwear had grown sticky on the way home, and he wiped himself off with his shirt as best he could. "Shower?"

"Definitely."

There was mutual admiration as they got clean, along with some more kissing and groping, but they were both too well spent for anything more. 

"Is it okay if we snuggle?" David asked as they got into bed.

"Sure." Dan opened an arm and David curled in at his side. "So, about this 'not coping well' thing?"

"I'm grieving. It's hard. It was bad enough losing Martin, but Fiona's gone too and all that other grief seems to have come back and unpacked all its bags and is camping out in the edge of my consciousness. I'm trying to keep a brave face on and do the right thing, but every night I get into bed and fall apart."

Dan held him tighter and kissed his hair. "I'm sorry. I've been asking so much of you, and I wasn't thinking about how it would affect you."

"How do you deal with shit like this on a daily basis?"

"It sounds harsh, but I just have to detach myself from the feelings and get on with the job. It doesn't always work. Sometimes something about a case hits a nerve and I do something stupid. But I'm trying to stop doing that." He sighed. "I guess I just try to fix what I can and put the rest in a box somewhere and try not to look at it too closely. But I'm not suggesting you try that. It's personal for you. You just have to get through it. But I'll be here to help you do that."

David nuzzled his chest and sniffed. "You're a good friend."

They were quiet for a few moments. Finally Dan summed up the courage to ask the question that has been bothering him all day. "Did you mean all that stuff you put on Wobble?"

"About you?"

Dan nodded.

"Not all of it. I do love your body and your chaotic energy. But you're not the one. That last part was wishful thinking. I don't know if there's anyone out there who would totally get me. The sex, the honesty, the now very imminent Satanism. My grotesquely normal job. You're the closest thing I have to what I want, and it was sweet to pretend for a little while, but… I feel like there should be something else. I don't know what exactly."

"You'll know when you find it."

"You sure about that?"

"Not completely. I mean, I thought what I had with Chloe was the real deal, but I fucked it up royally. I just hope I don't do the same thing with Lucifer. I think it's different this time though."

"How so?" 

"Because I'm different. I don't try to bottle things up anymore, or deal with things on my own. I know that I'm worth loving and I don't have to do stupid shit to prove myself."

David plonked an elbow on Dan's chest and propped his chin on his hand. "You are worth loving. And you're the luckiest man alive, because it's the Devil who loves you. And I love you too. Not romantically. But I do."

Dan bent up to kiss him. "I think I love you too. Not romantically. But as a friend. Who I can talk to about my complicated life. And sometimes screw."

David smiled, and Dan stroked his face.

"You're worth loving too. You're one of a kind." 

David kissed him and crawled on top of him, grinning. "I am, aren't I?"

Dan's phone buzzed. He grabbed it from the nightstand. "Huh. Lucifer sent us some pictures. Wanna see?" He held the phone to the side and they lay cheek to cheek as they flicked through them. "Wow. I don't think any of these are publishable. Look at my face in this one," he laughed.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself."

"I was. How come you don't make crazy faces like that?"

"I could tell you, but you might think I'm crazy."

"Go on."

"I used to practise masturbating in front of a mirror. I was terribly self conscious about it. I always loved sex, but I also wanted to look pretty."

"You are pretty. Look at this one. Lucifer must have taken it as we were getting ready to leave."

"Unholy shit. I mean we're both kinda mussed, but we look like a real couple."

The picture showed them looking into each other's eyes and smiling. David was softly caressing Dan's cheek, and you could see the pentagram on the inside of his wrist.

"We do." 

"You think I should stick it on Wobble?"

"Absolutely. I mean- it looks like good bait." It looked like the picture they found in the trash, but he didn't say it out loud.

"Send it to me, I'll do it now." David scrambled for his own phone and began swiping. He tagged it simply, "True love."

***

Dan left early so he could go home and change clothes before work. But David woke him even earlier and insisted they should have sex. Which they did, very enthusiastically. Dan was still smiling when he bounced into the precinct, only a few minutes late, and Lucifer gave him a knowing grin.

"I take it you sorted things out with lover boy?"

"Yes, we're all good. Well, mostly good. He's not in a great place, what with somebody who keeps trying to kill his friends and all. But he's coping."

"We will stop this, Daniel, I promise."

"I know. We're good at this stuff."

It was around lunch time when Dan got a call from his sister Jamie. 

"Hey sis," he said cautiously. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you."

_"Hi. Yeah. What's this about you turning into a Satanist? Is this some kind of weird prank?"_

Dan leapt up from his chair and waved at Lucifer and Chloe. "Okay, listen carefully. Is anyone there with you?"

_"I'm on my lunch break. There's a few people, but I don't think they're listening."_

"Anyone you don't know? Anyone new?"

_"No, they're all colleagues I've known for a while now. Dan, what's going on?"_

Chloe and Lucifer arrived at his desk and he mouthed that it was his sister. "Jamie, I'm putting you on speaker. So, we're working on a case and a certain group of people are being targeted. I need to know whatever you can tell me about this rumour and where you heard it from."

Her voice sounded tinny over the speaker. _"Not much. I just switched on my phone and some random sent me a picture of you and this dude. It said you were being corrupted by dark forces and that if I valued your soul, I should do whatever was in my power to save you."_

"He's right about the dark forces, bit," Lucifer muttered, but Chloe silenced him with a hand.

"Jamie, it's Chloe. Sorry to skip the pleasantries, but this is important. How did you get the message?"

_"It was a private message on Wobble."_

"Do you know if anyone else in your family has a similar message?"

_"I don't know, I called Dan first."_

"We'll check in with them. Have you responded to the message at all?"

_"Not yet. I thought it was some kind of joke. What's happening?"_

"What's happening is that you cannot trust the person sending you this information," Dan warned her. "I need you to remember that. Be careful. You shouldn't be in any danger, I'm his target, but don't listen to him. He might try to persuade you to hurt me."

_"I would never hurt you, big brother, you know that. But Sofia's still firmly religious. She might buy into it more easily- you should warn her."_

"We will. Now we know he's taken the bait, we can warn everyone."

"Jamie, would you be willing to help us?" Chloe asked. "Send a message back that we script out for you?"

_"Are you sure it's safe?"_

"There is always an element of risk. If you want to meet in person, we could go through everything."

_"Okay. Let's talk."_

***

They met on neutral territory, and Jamie managed to persuade her other brother to come too. He'd been sent the same message and was curious. Sophia said she was too busy with the children to come running at the drop of a hat, but she admitted to seeing the photo and said it was all nonsense. Jamie promised to take a message back to her. As Dan's parents weren't on any social media they decided not to bother them yet.

Jamie agreed to give the response Chloe suggested, which was to arrange a meeting at a certain time and place. Of course Chloe would be the one attending, with plain clothes officers nearby to detain him when he showed up. The testimony of Fiona's family would be enough to identify him, and the IT forensics team would be able to track his digital footprints. Ella was still going over evidence from the abandoned church where Fiona had been killed, refusing to give up hope that she might find something to link him to the crime scene.

Of course it was never going to be that simple. The man (who was now identifying himself as Peter) did not want to meet in the place chosen by the police for ease of surveillance and a simple arrest. He had somewhere else in mind. Chloe knew the restaurant he suggested, and though it wasn't ideal, she decided they could work with it.

The next day she was sitting at the table, watching the clock. Peter aka Paul was running late. It made her nervous. Well, not exactly nervous, but suspicious. 

Lucifer was perusing a menu a few tables over and keeping an unobtrusive eye on her. It was difficult to plant officers because they knew Peter could be watching. They had people close by though, and Chloe was wearing an earbud so she could call them quickly. Dan couldn't be anywhere near the operation without giving it away, so he was holed up back at the precinct. When he had opened his mouth to complain, Lucifer had just held up a single finger. "Ah-ah-ah! Daniel, stay. Good minion."

Dan had glared, but dropped into his seat without further argument. Chloe admitted to herself that having Dan on the Devil's leash was very convenient. Also kinda hot. Besides, she'd been worrying too much about him since he made himself bait. There was no longer any doubt in her mind- she cared about him deeply, and the fire she used to feel for him was coming back. Which should have been ridiculous because she loved Lucifer more than she believed possible, but somehow she was falling in love with Dan again too. He was being so brave- well possibly just stupid, but also brave. And if Lucifer was right then if she was patient they could have it all.

Patience seemed to be in short supply as the clock ticked half an hour past the appointed meeting time. Something was wrong.

A waiter approached her table. "Pardon me, are you Jamie Espinoza?" he asked with a perplexed expression.

"Yes. What is it?"

"I have a message for you." He handed her a folded piece of paper.

She opened it. _Jamie, deepest regrets but I won't be able to meet with you as planned. I still have a great many concerns about your brother and want to help him, but another member of my flock needed assistance and I could not refuse. I will send you a message when I've dealt with the situation and am able to reschedule. Thank you for your patience."_

This was weird for a number of reasons. The first being that it was paper. So far he had been communicating online, so why switch modes? It might mean that he knew they were onto him. Which might mean Dan was in danger.

"Where did you get this?" she asked the waiter.

"A gentleman called and left the message."

"By phone?"

"Yes."

"Just now?"

"Yes."

"He must have seen me. He might still be nearby."

"Ma'am?"

"Sorry, talking to some friends." She stood quickly. "Lucifer! Let's move."

He followed her out the front door, but the man in the van reported he hadn't seen anyone looking through the windows or going in and straight out, who matched the description or otherwise. They made their way through an alley to check around the back.

The place was deserted. There were a couple of dumpsters but it looked like someone had been going through them and throwing garbage everywhere. 

"Well this a mess," Lucifer noted. "Looks worse than my place after one of my orgies. Former orgies," he amended hastily, and nudged a pile of trash with his foot. It met with some kind of resistance. "Detec-"

The rest of his warning was lost in a loud bang and garbage was flying everywhere. Chloe was enfolded in white light.


	12. Two Little Dickie Birds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan's in trouble.

Dan didn't like the waiting. He didn't like the fact that Lucifer was out on a mission with Chloe but not him- not because he was jealous but because it meant Lucifer was vulnerable. 

He was scrubbing at his face for the third time in ten minutes when the phone rang. The number was blocked. "Hello?"

_"Detective Espinoza? It's Mr. Goodwin from school. Your daughter Trixie was knocked over in gym class and bumped her head. We're not sure how bad it is, but she seems a little disoriented and it might be a good idea to get her checked over at the hospital."_

"Oh, crap! Sorry. I'll be right there."

_"Thank you. We tried calling her mother first but there was no answer."_

"She's working on a case. I'm on my way."

_"We'll see you shortly."_

Dan grabbed his jacket and ran down to the parking lot. He was just about to get in the car when he heard quick footsteps and someone called his name. 

"Detective Espinoza! I'm so glad I caught you."

It was a uni he didn't recognise. Short hair, pale skin, something strangely familiar about the eyes. "What's wrong? Is it the case? Is Chloe okay?" He felt his stomach drop. "Is Lucifer okay?"

The man stepped closer as if to reassure him, and suddenly Dan was hit with a huge jolt of electricity. As his vision faded into stars and then blackness, he sent a quick prayer. 

_"Master…"_

***

Lucifer hissed as shrapnel collided with his wings. Someone had laced the trash with bits of metal and they bloody stung.

It was over in an instant and his ears were ringing. He quickly put his wings away before anyone came to investigate the noise. "Detective, are you all right?"

"A little bruised is all. You were super fast."

"Supernaturally fast. I might not have quite my brother's talents, but I can move at a fair pace when I need to. Ah, here comes back-up."

Chloe stood and brushed herself down. "There's no one here. Looks like this was a trap though. Bomb. Probably improvised, and more loud than effective. We need to check on-"

"Daniel!" Lucifer breathed.

"Exactly." She pulled out her phone, but even as it rang out the look on Lucifer's face told her something was very wrong. "What is it?"

He pulled her aside. "He just called me. All I got was one word before it cut off. I think he was in pain."

"We need to get back to the station."

***

They found his phone smashed in the ground next to his car. Chloe could feel the panic rising but forced herself to remain calm. Lucifer was raging.

"We should never have left him. Bloody Hell, I should never have let him be bait in the first place."

"It's okay, we're going to find him."

"Of course we're going to find him! He's mine and this Dad-bothering nutcase has no idea who he's dealing with!"

***

Dan woke up and couldn't move. His feet were tied at the ankles and his hands were bound behind him. Cable ties. Fantastic. He swallowed the rising panic as they bit sharply into his wrists and focussed on Lucifer. _"Dark Lord, I need help."_

He kept his eyes closed and concentrated on what he could hear. Footsteps pacing slowly, the floor giving off a metallic echo. Seagulls. The distant rush of waves, but also engines. Some kind of storage container maybe, at the docks? He wondered if Lucifer could home in on his signal like a tracking beacon. He kept praying. His whole body ached from the electric shock. It must have been either a taser or a stun gun. His arms were pulled behind him at an awkward angle, so close to the memory of Malcolm that it made him shudder.

His captor noticed. "Ah, awake at last.” He grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled Dan up to kneeling. “Are you ready to confess?"

Chloe had told him what happened to Fiona. Confession had got her killed.

"Go to Hell."

A fist collided with Dan's face. It stung, but the guy was nowhere near as strong as Lucifer. Dan lifted his head and spat. 

"You're going to have to do much better than that if you want me to renounce the Dark Lord."

The only light came from the open door at the far end of the container. Paul (or Peter) stood over him, twitching with anger. He had cut his hair and lost the beard, but those were the same eyes. 

"Do not let yourself be led astray by those heathens! You think you've sold your soul, but there is still a chance for redemption. If you confess your sins, repent, you can be made free."

"Like you made Fiona free? Thanks, but I think I'll pass."

"You mock, but her soul now resides in Heaven. She has been saved." His voice was cool and self-assured. It was unnerving.

"Fiona was happy, she didn't need saving."

"Her soul was being desecrated by that wanton sinner. He's done the same to others, and now he's doing it to you. Don't you see?"

"You're talking about David."

"Yes. You think he cares for you, but he wants to damn your soul to Hell."

"I know he cares for me," Dan retorted. It earned him another quick blast from the taser. His body tightened and ached. Part of his brain tried to interpret it as pleasure, but it felt like a violation to let anyone but Lucifer do that to him, so gritted his teeth instead. It took several breaths to bring his muscles back under control when it was over, but Dan was strong. "He's not the only one who cares for me either. And when my Master finds you, he's going to make you regret you did any of this."

"You think the Devil himself will save you?"

"I know he will."

That one earned him a kick in the gut. "You are so deluded."

"Why am I here, anyway? This isn't your normal game. From what I hear, you don't like to get your hands dirty." Why was he still talking? He reminded himself it might be prudent not to goad a murderer while he was tied up and helpless. Especially when everything he said seemed to result in pain.

"There are no stains on my hands. I do God's work."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you just convince other people to do the dirty work." _Shut up, Dan!_ "I guess my parents were just too old. And my siblings clearly aren't that interested in what you have to say."

"On the contrary. Your sister was very helpful."

"Yeah, she agreed to meet you. But she's not here now, is she?"

"Not Jamie. The other one. Dear Sophia, she was very concerned when she found out you had a boyfriend. She told me all about you. Your job, your ex-wife. She was particularly concerned about her niece."

Dan growled and pulled against his restraints. "You leave my daughter out of this!"

"Your daughter is the reason I'm doing this myself. It's one thing to parade around with your filthy debauchery,” he sneered with contempt, “but you are putting the soul of an innocent at risk and that is something I will not abide. There was no time to waste with your family. I will see to it that you repent, and then I will send you on the path to salvation."

"Lucifer is my salvation!"

"I will not hear such obscenities!" His captor slapped him and then paced around the container, calming himself after the momentary loss of control. "I will pray and meditate. The true Lord will guide me." He went to the door and stepped out. Dan caught a glimpse of light and greyness. The container was inside a warehouse. Presumably somewhere private. 

Dan was left in darkness.

He took a deep breath, grateful for the reprieve, and did some praying of his own.

***

Dan wasn't sure if he was thinking straight. Goading Peter-Paul might not have been such a good idea. On the other hand it has bought him some time. Not so much as a plastic knife to help him out of this one. He was going to enjoy being tied up even less after this too, which was kind of a bummer. The masochist who likes pain but can't bear to be restrained. Maybe Lucifer wouldn't be taking him to show off at any parties after all.

_Lucifer, my Master, love of my life. How did that happen? It started when I realised that it wasn't all an act. You genuinely were that guy. And then pain and trust and the rest of it. Accepting me as me. I wasn't kidding, you really are my salvation._

_I think I might be slightly drugged. Which could be trouble if he's waiting for me to confess. I won't turn from you though, I promise._

_Hey, do me a favour and ask Chloe to call school? I got a call about Trixie. I'm fairly sure it was just a ruse to get me alone, but let's make sure._

_You know it would be great if you could pray back. I guess it doesn't work that way though, I'm only human. It would be really nice to hear your voice right now. I know you're on your way though._

He sobbed a little. _Everything hurts, Dark Lord. And not in a fun way. I'm scared. This guy is so sure that he's right and that's terrifying. Hurry up and rescue me, please. I just want to be home, with you and my family, wrapped up in feathers and knowing I'm safe._

_I love you. My Master. My Dark Lord._ He began reciting it as a litany as he ran out of things to say. It was calming. After a while, the prayers made their way to his lips and he muttered them under his breath. As the cramps in his muscles got worse, he started saying it louder and louder.

The door screeched open as his captor returned. "What are you saying?"

Dan looked straight at him, courage or stupidity or whatever drugs he'd been dosed with making him bold. "Lucifer! Morningstar! Lord of my Darkness! Hear my prayers, save me!"

Peter-Paul shouted angrily. "I've had enough of you Satanic babbling!” He pressed the taser to Dan’s arm and held it there. Dan arched painfully and wondered if it would make him pass out again, but mercifully or otherwise he stayed awake. “I have sought God and He has shown me the way. I shall be your guide. I will purify you with fires of pain. When you see a glimpse of what awaits you in Hell, you will repent.”

He circled Dan and another shock made him tense. Everywhere the weapon touched left him sore- a sting on the surface of his skin a sharp counterpoint to the ache in his limbs. The electricity brought it all into sharp focus as he was made to spasm over and over again. It stopped for a moment, and he was offered a chance to confess.

“Lucifer,” he gasped. It felt like his body was on fire. Why didn’t he pass out? He needed to keep praying. “Satan, give me strength.”

Something was pulling at his feet. He felt his shoes and socks being removed. When the taser touched his bare soles it was agony. He endured. He endured when his captor tired of that game and pulled out his belt, whacking Dan’s feet with it folded double. He endured when the back of his shirt was torn and the buckle bit into his flesh time after time. It was inexpertly wielded, sometimes hitting his arms and sometimes his back. He repeated the litany of his Master’s name and took it all.

When he showed no signs of changing his mind, his captor grew angry. He circled back in front of him. “You refuse to repent?”

“Satan,” he gasped. “I belong to my Dark Lord. I bear his marks in my body and soul. No-one can take from me his grasp.” 

Peter-Paul pulled the scraps of clothing from the front of Dan’s body. His eyes grew wild at the sight of the scars. “I have been shown the way. If you do not repent, you shall be condemned by your own guilt!" He disappeared for a moment, and then returned, a silhouette in the doorway.

Dan inhaled sharply as he found himself staring down the barrel of his own gun. He watched the man's finger move on the trigger, but just as he squeezed it a loud crash from somewhere in the warehouse made him jump and waver. 

Searing pain burst through Dan's shoulder as the bullet lodged itself in his flesh. He screamed, tumbling backwards and unable to catch himself. Peter-Paul turned in the doorway, holding up the gun.

"Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall, one named Peter…"

Dan laughed with relief, and possibly lightheadedness. "Oh, you're in deep shit now. That's my Master's voice."

He looked back at Dan in a panic. "That's not possible!"

There was another crash as he was slammed into the side of the container. Lucifer's eyes glowed crimson in the dim light. "One named Paul!"

"Oh dear God!"

"He's not here to answer your call just now," Lucifer hissed, pinching his throat as he pushed him up the wall. "I'm the other one. The one whose people you've been taking."

In a desperate effort, the man waved the gun vaguely at Lucifer and emptied the rest of the clip. 

“Lucifer!” Dan shouted in panic.

The Devil flinched a little, but was unmoved. He slammed him into the wall again. "You took what was mine. Nobody hurts him but me!" he roared. 

Dan wondered if his captor was about to get his face ripped off. Or possibly an arm.

"Nice idea, Daniel," Lucifer said, and took hold of his bicep. 

_Fuck, I'm still praying, aren't I?_ He tried to think more calming thoughts.

"Lucifer?" Chloe's voice echoed as she stepped into view. She had her gun trained on the suspect. "I think you can put him down now." 

Lucifer grinned. "Right you are, Detective. It's time for Peter and Paul to fly away!" He kicked the doors wider and threw him a good six meters across the empty warehouse.

Chloe tried not to smile herself. "I'll go cuff him, you look after Dan."

"Master…"

Lucifer lifted Dan carefully into his arms. "It's okay. I'm here, I've got you."

"My hands," he sobbed.

Lucifer growled at the cable ties and they snapped as if in fear. Dan screamed as his arms were released and it jarred his wounded shoulder.

"There's an ambulance waiting outside. I knew you were hurt, I heard everything. Trixie's fine, she hasn't bumped her head. The Detective will take care of that abomination. I'll have to carry you. Are you ready?"

"Wait," he caught Lucifer's hand weakly and pulled it towards the bleeding hole. "I need the pain to be from you."

"I could make things worse."

"I won't beg. But it would help me a lot."

Very gently, Lucifer circled the hole with his finger and nudged it just inside. Dan shuddered and writhed in his arms. He pulled out quickly. "Better?"

Dan sighed with relief as a fresh wave of endorphins hit and he was finally able to enter his safe head space. "Fuck. Yes."

Lucifer held his gaze as he licked the blood from his finger. "Now that I've got you all turned on in your agony, can I please take you to the paramedics?"

"Yeah," Dan panted. "Let's go."

It was a bumpy ride to the hospital. Lucifer held his hand all the way.

The paramedic, a woman with short blonde hair, smiled at the way they looked at each other. "Don't worry, love," she said to Lucifer softly. Her accent was British too, but with more of a common sounding twang. "We'll get your boy all fixed up."

"Will I need an operation?" Dan asked.

"Probably. The bullet's still in there, and we need to get it out and make sure you stop leaking. But don't you worry."

"Lucifer- while they're sorting me out, I want you to go back to the station with Chloe."

"I'm not leaving your side, love!"

"You have to! I didn't do all this for nothing. We can get him on kidnapping me, but if we want to link him to the other two murders we need him to talk. You can make that happen, one way or another."

"They might not let me near him. I did throw him across the room."

"You can be very persuasive. Make it happen and keep your temper. Fuck!" His face screwed up with pain.

"Morphine?" the paramedic offered.

"Thanks, but I'm good. I think he dosed me with something, but I don't know what. Something to make me talkative."

"Well that would explain it. People aren't usually this chatty when they've been shot."

Dan chuckled, winced and tried to shut up. "Are we nearly there yet?" It didn't seem to be working very well.

"Soon, pet. If you want to pass the time why don't you tell me about this fine young gentleman of yours?"

He smiled. "He's the Devil."

"I'll bet he is!"

Dan babbled on happily for the rest of the journey. Lucifer preened under the torrent of praise. Dan couldn't seem to stop praying, either. He kept going when they took him away, and it slowly faded out as he was sedated. Lucifer listened to him counting backwards from ten and went back to the station.


	13. My people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some explanations and some aftercare.

Lucifer had cooled down a lot since the warehouse. His wrath had quieted into a cold vengeance by the time he joined Chloe and the kidnapper in the interrogation room.

“Has he said anything, yet?”

“Nothing particularly useful. Or logical.” to a casual observer she looked calm, but Lucifer knew her tells. That stillness his a whirlwind of feeling she kept quietly contained.

“That’s about to change.” Lucifer stared at him until he met his eyes, and then he smiled gently. “Hello Dickie Bird. Remember me?” His eyes flashed, just for a microsecond, but it made the man flinch and start to tremble. “I know, I was much easier to handle when I was just a theoretical ideal. An antithesis for you to struggle against and feel strong. But I’m real, flesh and blood, just like you. Well, not quite like you. I’m far more powerful.” He brushed casually at his shirt front, drawing attention to the holes. “Let’s start with your name, shall we?”

“Saul.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

“Saul Harper.”

“Mr. Harper. You’ve been hunting my people. I want to know why.” It was the first time he'd thought of them like that, but facing this kind of monster, it felt right.

“I’m protecting their souls!”

“No you’re not. You don’t get to say who goes to Heaven or Hell. The only soul you’re responsible for is your own. Perhaps it would ease your conscience a little if you made your own confession. What do you desire, little Dickie Bird?”

Saul’s face twisted as he tried to resist, but Lucifer was not going to let him go. “I want him to see how much pain and devastation he caused!” he blurted. “I want him to suffer, like his poor family suffered.”

“Him who?”

“David. The one who’s been seducing all those people into unholy acts.”

“How do you know David?”

“He’s my brother.”

“He never mentioned a brother,” Chloe said. 

“He doesn’t know about me. I grew up with my mother, and it was only when she was dying that I found out who my real father was. David had left his family by then, like the prodigal son, only he didn’t come back. His parents missed him terribly. They were righteous people. They taught me the ways of light.”

“Quite.” Lucifer bristled. “His father was so righteous he had a child out of wedlock and abandoned him.”

“They taught me about God. About holiness. He showed me how to be pure. I saw miracles, exorcisms. I saw people leave their lives of sin and find meaning in the Church. Pastor Collins was a good father.”

Chloe jumped in before Lucifer could say anything else. “Did he know about the work you were doing? Saving souls?”

Saul’s eyes went back to her. “No. He’s… not well. I wanted it to be a surprise. If my brother could see where his path of corruption was taking people, then he would repent and come home. My father could see his son before he died. I followed David online, watching who he was associating with. When he got close to someone, he would say such blasphemous things. But when he was alone, sometimes he wavered. Once he even called home, but when I answered, he didn’t speak. So I took away his crutches. I took Martin, his so-called lover, and I took Fiona who was in it with him from the beginning. I wasn’t expecting her to be replaced so quickly, but clearly David was crumbling.

“Father took a turn for the worse last week. I knew I had to move more quickly. And David was so fixated on Dan, I thought if he was out of the way, David would come home. When I found out about your daughter… I did this for her too.”

“How is taking away my daughter's father good for her?”

Saul ignored the cold note of warning in her voice. “Evil is a sickness, Detective Decker. It spreads like the cancer growing through my father’s insides. You should be protecting your child from its influence.” He glared at Lucifer. “From _his_ influence.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Saul. Lucifer’s not evil. Dan isn’t evil. You’re the one who’s plotting to kill people.”

“I made sure they repented before I had them killed.”

“I think that counts as a confession, don’t you, Detective?”

***

David was sitting by Dan’s bed when he woke up. He went to the door and called for the doctor, who came in and checked him over. When they were alone again, Dan looked quizzically at David.

“What are you doing here?”

“Lucifer called. He understood that you wanted him to help with interrogation, but he didn’t want you to wake up alone. He asked, I came.”

“So, you’re his willing servant now too?”

“I always was. I was just waiting for instructions. How are you feeling?”

“Like I should have asked the doctor for some of that morphine I was offered earlier. Everything hurts, but the shoulder is the worst.”

“I thought you liked that.”

“I like it when Lucifer does it. I like it when I can consent.”

“I’m sorry. This is all because of me.”

“No, it’s not. It’s because some whacko had issues with my faith. Our faith. You can only be responsible for your own actions, remember? Basic Satanism.”

“Right. Thanks for reminding me.” David glanced at his phone. “He should be here soon, anyway. He sent a message to say he was on his way before you woke up.”

“Thanks for coming.” 

“It’s the least I can do. Although…”

“What?”

“I think maybe we should break up now? I mean, fake-dating you was fun and all, but I don’t think I’m quite ready to be tied down like that.”

Dan saw the jest for what it was, and went to punch him in the arm for it. “Ow!” he groaned, still laughing.

David called the nurse and arranged for some more pain relief. She was just injecting it into his IV when Lucifer came bursting in, followed closely by Chloe and Trixie.

“Daniel!” he clutched at him, trying to hold him, and Dan made a strangled noise of pain. It felt good this time, though, or maybe it was just the drugs kicking in.

“Lucifer! Are you okay?”

“Nothing a bit of grooming won’t fix. Shame about the suit, but you’re safe and that’s what’s important.”

“Who are you and what have you done with the real Lucifer?”

“Very droll.” 

He was pushed out of the way by Trixie, who managed to hug her dad in a more restrained fashion. Lucifer helped her up to sit on the edge of the bed.

“I think we have a few too many visitors in here,” the nurse said.

Lucifer smiled at her. “They kept trying to tell me that out there, too, but it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“I suppose?”

“And if you pop back to the nurses station I’m sure they'll clarify it for you. Daniel here is allowed as many visitors as he chooses. If you’re quick there might even be some of those special chocolates left.”

“Chocolates?”

“Yes. And fruit. People always give chocolate, and variety is the spice of life.”

“Right. I expect I’ll be seeing you then.”

“Yes, I expect you will.”

Dan looked at Chloe. “So are we just turning a blind eye to the bribery and corruption going on here?”

“It’s small scale, I think we can overlook it under the circumstances.” 

“Are you okay, Dad?”

“Yes, Monkey, I’m fine. The doctors have been taking very good care of me.”

“What happened?”

“I helped the police get the bad guy. But I got shot in the process, and now there will probably be a really cool scar.”

“Like Mom’s?”

“Yes,” Chloe grinned. “We’ll have matching scars.”

Dan reached up with his good hand and touched her shoulder. “If I’m lucky, I should be able to go home soon.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes. “I’m about to make a crazy suggestion.”

Everyone looked at her, but she just tapped her lip thoughtfully.

“Go on,” Lucifer prompted.

“Why don’t you come and stay with us? You’ll need some help while you convalesce, and we still have Maze’s old room going spare. I’m sure Trixie would love having you around.”

Dan’s tongue darted over dry lips. “Do you mean just until I’ve recovered, or…?”

Trixie was vibrating silently in expectation.

“I guess we could call it a trial run. If we find we’re getting along better than we were last time, maybe we can think about something more permanent.”

“Maybe we should talk about this sometime when I’m not on drugs,” Dan suggested.

“It’s a crazy idea. You’re right, forget I asked.”

Trixie seemed to deflate, but looked at her dad hopefully.

“I mean, it’s not completely crazy," he admitted. "It would mean Lucifer would spend a lot less time apartment hopping, which I’m sure he’d appreciate.”

“It would save me some time,” he agreed. “And I could see a lot more of the two of you together, which would be lovely. You can both still visit me whenever you want, and I’m sure David won’t mind you popping over to his place if you want a short break.”

David smiled and shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind at all.”

“Do you think we can do it without arguing?” Dan asked Chloe.

“We can try. I have a feeling we’ll both be a bit happier and relaxed with Lucifer around.”

“Okay, let’s do it. Trial run.”

Trixie slipped down from the bed and literally jumped around in excitement. Chloe grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a hug. She seemed just as happy in her own, quiet way. 

“But, hey,” Dan said softly, hating himself for being a buzzkill. “This is just roomies, right? Your mom and I aren’t exactly getting back together.”

Chloe looked down, and Trixie looked up at Lucifer, who smiled knowingly. “Of course, love. Whatever you say.” 

***

Later, when Trixie had settled in the corner with pen and paper to work in her parent trap, Chloe filled Dan and David in on the interrogation. 

"I have a brother?" David asked.

"Yes," Lucifer said. "My deepest condolences." 

"Shit. And my dad is dying."

"Congratulations?"

"Lucifer!" Chloe rebuked him.

"No, he's kinda right. My parents… well they sucked. Looks like they did a sterling job with big brother too."

"What are you going to do about it?" Dan asked quietly.

"I dunno. Have a party?"

Dan took his hand for support. "He might be here now. On another ward."

David looked at him. "Are you seriously suggesting I go and talk to him?"

"Shrug. And I say it because I can't do it. But wouldn't you rather do something and regret it, than spend the rest of your life wondering what you might have missed?"

"I was clearly talking about something else when I said that."

"The principle still applies."

David sat quietly.

"If it helps, I'll come with you," Lucifer offered.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on eating his entrails or anything. But I have spent almost an eternity wishing my Father would answer my questions, and I don't recommend it. You should see him. Even if it just helps you realise you don't need him anymore."

David nodded. "Okay."

"Good. Let's go."

"Now?"

"Of course now. If you wait, you'll just talk yourself out of it. Come on."

***

They found the ward and asked for him by name. It took a bit of Lucifer's persuasive power to gain entry. David's father was hooked up to various monitors, and he was pale and gaunt. His eyes fluttered open at the sound of the door.

"Am I hallucinating?" he asked, his voice thin and hoarse.

"No Dad. It's really me. I just found out you were sick, so… here I am."

"You've finally come… to ask for forgiveness?"

"Forgiveness? Me?" David scoffed.

"You abandoned your faith, your family, your moral compass."

"The way I chose was not your way. But it was you who threw me out and closed the door."

"You always knew the way back. You chose to stay away."

"It wasn't a choice, Dad!" David balled his hands into fists at his side. "I am what I am. Queer, faggot, call it what you like. Sometimes I fall in love with men. Sometimes I don't meet your expected standards of masculinity. But you and your God are more worried about where I stick my dick than about showing me that you care. Or even treating me like a human. So I found people who will let me be me, who respect me and care about me like you never did."

"Immoral heathens."

David looked at the floor. _Satan, give me strength!_

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He hadn't even realised he'd prayed.

"And is this another one of your lovers?" his father asked with contempt. 

David turned to look at Lucifer. "No. Not a lover. But someone important to me. Someone I can trust."

The old man scoffed, making himself cough.

"Do you even care about me? At all?"

"Of course I do, son. I care enough to try to stop you from ruining your life."

"Don't you understand? I can't live the life you want. You think there's only one way, but you don't know anything for sure. Your way doesn't work for everyone. Are you ever going to stop judging me?"

"God is our judge. His laws are clear. You show them utter disregard."

Lucifer leant forward to speak in David's ear. "Would you like me to ask him what he wants? I can if you like."

"I don't think so. This conversation is going nowhere. He's a relic of the past, that's all. He has no real power over me. Goodbye Dad. I honestly hope you find peace where you're going. Somehow I doubt it." He turned to go. 

"David!" his father called, raising a hand weakly, "I will keep praying for God to have mercy on your soul!"

"Save it for your other son. I have a feeling he's going to need it a lot more."

Lucifer squeezed his shoulder and they left. "You handled that better than I would have if it were my Father."

"It might not have gone so well if he wasn't… you know… dying. I guess seeing him so weak like that made me realise how little he mattered to me now."

"And what of your mother? Will you seek her out too?"

"I don't know. I'll think about it. She was never quite as vocal in her condemnation as he was, but she didn't do anything to stop him from kicking me out."

Lucifer stopped in his tracks.

"What is it?"

"How old were you when he kicked you out?"

"Sixteen."

He gestured to a couple of chairs along the hallway and they sat down. "Where did you go?"

"I did some couch surfing. Lied about my age to get into shelters. If all else failed there was an old stone tunnel I camped out in."

"Why didn't you go back?"

"It wasn't just verbal abuse. At least when I was living in the streets I had control over where my next meal was coming from. He called it fasting."

"I was the celestial equivalent of pre-pubescent when I was kicked out. I always thought Mum just stood back and watched, but She claims She prevented Him from killing me outright. There was no shelter where I ended up."

"I can't begin to imagine."

"I don't recommend you try. I survived by sheer stubbornness."

David chuckled. "So did I. I worked for a drug dealer for a while, studied hard and got myself into college. Porn paid the rent, but I had to trade favours to get loans for my fees. Which I'm still paying off slowly. It's comforting to know Fiona's parents will inherit her debts." 

They sat silently for a few moments, lost in hard memories. 

"And after all that, you were still able to face your father?"

"I would never have managed it on my own."

"I thought I was talking to Dad a couple of years ago. He was kind to me and I nearly forgave Him. Turns out it was just a fragment. Made me more angry than ever, that He could still manipulate me like that. I don't know what I'll do when I have to face Him again."

"Do you have to, though?"

"If I want to stay with Chloe and Daniel forever, then yes."

"I know it's not much, because I'm a puny mortal and all, but if you need me, I'll stand with you."

"Against God?"

"You're my God. I've chosen you, for better or worse."

"Not a big fan of the phrasing, but…" He grabbed David's hand and led him quickly back to Dan's room.

"Everything okay?" Chloe asked. "Is Mr. Collins senior still in one piece?"

"Yes, one ghastly, narrow minded, moronic piece. But I have something important to say."

"We're listening," Dan said.

"I want this one too," he said quickly. "Not as a lover, before you ask, although I wouldn't be adverse to a repeat of that other evening, but as a…" he waved his hand as he tried to think of a proper word.

"Disciple? Acolyte?" Dan suggested.

"Sort of. Only without the blind obedience or lording it over anyone. Mostly. I just want to claim him as one of mine."

David went wide eyed and he trembled. "You do? Should I kneel?"

"No, don't be daft," Lucifer replied shortly. "I'm not my Father."

"I'd like to do something to commemorate the moment. Here," he pushed up his sleeves and held out his wrists, showing the tattoos. "I got these to show that I chose you, back before I really knew who you were."

"What do you want me to do, bless them?" Lucifer mocked, but then he looked in David's eyes and saw real devotion. Something twisted in his chest, and he took the offered hands. As his thumbs ran over them, he realised they hid deeper scars. "David Collins, I hereby declare you as my own. Be free. Be honest. Follow your deepest desires."

"I think you just granted my deepest desire."

Lucifer bent and kissed the tattoos on each wrist. "There. Happy?"

David made an incoherent noise.

"Good. I'm not doing that for the rest of them."

"The rest of who?" Dan enquired, curious. 

"His people," Chloe answered for him. 

"Yes," Lucifer said, almost shyly. "My people. The cast out and the damned. Not all of them, obviously. But next time someone prays, I might stop to listen. Especially if it's one of your lot, they're not too offensive."

"You're adopting the entire group?" Dan grinned. 

"Yes. It seems like it doesn't it? Please don't tell them though."

"Your secret is safe with us, Lord Lucifer," David assured him.

"Seriously, just Lucifer is fine. Don't make a big thing of it."

"I think we should be getting home, anyway," Chloe said. "Trixie needs dinner and sleep before school."

The child's head popped up at her name. "Oh! I wanna stay with Dad."

"You'll see me tomorrow," Dan held out one arm for a hug. "And the day after that. And the day after that. And possibly a few more then too."

Trixie grinned and kissed his cheek. "I love you Daddy. Get better soon."

Chloe started gathering up her things.

"Would it be all right if I stay?" Lucifer asked.

Chloe nodded. "I'd like that. I'll worry less knowing you're with him."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Dan asked, but he looked pleased nonetheless.

"No," they answered in unison.

"I should get going too," David admitted. "I need to tell the internet I'm single again." He kissed Dan's forehead and nodded to Lucifer, who smiled back.

Chloe and Trixie said their goodbyes and Lucifer took the chair beside the bed. "You should get some rest. You've got lots of healing to do before I can break you again."

Dan chuckled softly. "You still owe me a caning."

"I do. It will have to wait a while longer, I'm afraid. We might have to make do with a riding crop or a flogger until you've got your strength back."

"Just not while Trixie's in the same house, okay?"

"Agreed." He leant his arms in the bed and took Dan's hand. "Just so you know, I'm never going to let you be bait again. That was far too close today. I could have lost you."

"But you didn't. You saved me, just like I knew you would."

Lucifer kissed his fingers. "Because you're mine."

"Yes."

"I love you, Detective Douche."

"I love you too, Beelzebub."

"Would you like a lullaby?"

"Mmm. Please."

_"There are places I'll remember all my life, though some have changed…"_

Dan closed his eyes and let the soft melody chase his fears away. Lucifer stroked his fingers and watched him drift to sleep.

_"Though I know I'll never lose affection  
For people and things that went before  
I know I'll often stop and think about them  
In my life, I'll love you more."_


	14. An adjustment period

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets together for Charlie's birthday party.  
> Chaos ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, a bit earlier than expected, at the final chapter. But don't be sad, I got so far ahead of myself that that I still have the next three stories in the series ready to go. That's another 11 chapters, 11 days worth to get a bit more written so we might even keep this up for another two weeks. If you're not all bored and overdosed by then.  
> Some might say I'm obsessed.
> 
> Thank you all for reading, I hope you are keeping your spirits up!

"Maybe I should have worn a suit," David said, pulling at the French tuck on his baggy tee. "I should have worn a suit."

"You look gorgeous," Dan assured him.

"You do look good in a suit," Trixie pointed out as she came out of her room. She'd already changed her outfit twice.

"See? Smart kid agrees."

"But it's a baby party," she said. "Nobody's going to be wearing a suit except Lucifer, and that's because he always wears a suit."

"Except when he's trying to be someone else," Dan added. "It's going to be fine, I don't know why you're so nervous."

"Oh, I don't know. This is my payback for my deal with the Devil. It's huge. It's like meeting your boyfriend's family, only ten times worse because he's not my lover, he's my deity, and his family are an actual angel, a nephilim, a demon, and the nephilim's mother."

Trixie rolled her eyes, a habit she clearly inherited from her mother. "Don't forget Ella."

"I already met Ella. She's nice. Are the rest of them nice?"

"Maze isn't exactly nice, but she is fun and she's been my best friend for ages. Amenadiel's… earnest. He's very cute as a dad, but he can be a total badass when he wants."

"Trixie! Language!"

"Sorry, Dad, but like I said, my best friend's a demon. Sometimes it just slips out. Anyway, don't upset Amenadiel or Lucifer will try and stick up for you and if those two start fighting again it's gonna wreck poor Linda's house."

"Crap."

"You're not going to upset Amenadiel," Dan assured him as he slipped on his jacket. The action made his shoulder ache. It was healing but it seemed to be taking forever. "No one's going to start a fight and wreck the furniture. We're all going to have fun and coo over the baby and tell Linda how much he's grown and how adorable he is."

"And hang out with my deity. Sure, it'll be fine."

"You've hung out with Lucifer plenty. Trixie, have you got Charlie's present?"

"Yes." She held up a brightly coloured gift bag with a winged teddy peeking out the top. 

"Then we're ready. Let's go."

***

Chloe had insisted she and Lucifer go early and help set things up. Linda pointed out that meant half the party would be there before it started, but as Maze and Lucifer added up to less help than one human, and Amenadiel would probably be fussing over Charlie, having Chloe would be a great help. Unexpectedly, after a short while Lucifer came into the kitchen.

"Give me something to do away from my brother," he said. "He's being such a doting father it's making my stomach churn. I'm worried I might actually find out what it's like to throw up."

Chloe looked at him, concerned. "Are you going to make it through the party?"

"Once Daniel arrives I'll be invulnerable again and it should be fine. Plus more people will add an extra buffer, but I might just ask Linda to keep an eye on me and intervene if I'm showing signs of trauma."

She stepped up to him and stroked his arms. "Is this you just being overdramatic, or is it a real problem?"

"I may be overstating the case a tad, but there is an underlying issue. Dad stuff. You know."

"You don't seem to have a problem with Dan and Trixie."

"That's different. Don't ask me why. It's still annoying, but he is rather cute with it. Amenadiel just makes me want to punch him in the face. More than usual."

"I'm sure Linda will help you work it all out next session. In the meantime, we'll run damage limitation."

He nodded his appreciation. "I'll be a big boy and I won't let it spoil the day."

"Here," she handed him a knife and some carrots. "Chop these for the dips."

***

They had everything set up and sat down with a glass of wine when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, you take Charlie," Amenadiel said and handed Linda the baby.

"Hi!" Dan greeted him. "Amenadiel, this is my friend David."

"Hi David," Amenadiel smiled and offered his hand.

David squeaked and took it.

"Come on in." 

Linda stood as they walked down the stairs. Her mouth fell open. "Mr. Collins?"

He gaped back at her. "Dr. Martin? You're… oh!"

"You two know each other?" Dan asked.

"Please don't tell me he's another of your clients, Doctor," Lucifer almost gagged.

"No, I'm one of his. He's my accountant. Your Satanist friend is my accountant?"

David laughed, relaxing a little. "Yes. And my favourite client is apparently the mother of my Dark Lord's nephew. How the Hell did that happen?"

"Long story." She handed Charlie to an eagerly awaiting Trixie and poured him a drink, gesturing for him to sit next to her. "Am I really your favourite?"

"Yes," he said, taking both the seat and the wine. "I have a lot of fun finding ways to deal with the uh, generosity of a particular client. It keeps my job interesting."

"Shhh," she whispered. "Let's keep that under our hats."

Lucifer scoffed. "It's okay, Doctor, I know I pay more than your usual fee, but I think you’ve earned that and more."

David glanced from Linda to Lucifer and back again. "You're her…" he took a large swig of wine. "Will you excuse me for a moment?"

"Of course."

He put down his glass and walked back outside.

"What just happened?" Dan asked with a look of confusion. 

"I think David's brain is exploding," Lucifer grinned. "He's swearing very eloquently."

"You can hear him from here?"

"I don't think he realises he's praying."

"I'm gonna go check that he's okay."

Amenadiel raised his brows. "You're accepting prayers now, brother?"

"Only from a select few. I seem to have adopted a gaggle of unexpected Satanists."

"Congratulations. I think."

"Don't tease him Amenadiel," Linda said. "He's making connections, it's good for him."

"So long as you don't let it go to your head."

"I'm not Dad."

Maze was perched on the arm of the sofa, smirking. "I think he's kinda cute. I wonder if he breaks easily."

"He's mine, Mazikeen. And he's a lot tougher than he looks. You can play with him, but if you damage him I'll be rather cross."

"Noted," she said with a grin. "What exactly counts as damage?"

"We can discuss it later."

"Can I give Charlie his present now?" Trixie asked before the conversation got any more out of her depth.

"Great idea," Linda said.

Trixie made a great game of having the bear peer out of the bag and hide again, and Charlie giggled and tried to grab for it. When she let him catch it he squealed and hugged it tight.

The front door opened and Dan and David returned, with Ella in tow. "Look who I found loitering outside!" Dan said.

"Hey, I just got here, you were the ones…" she glanced at Trixie, "...loitering."

"I was having a minor crisis, but I'm okay now," David explained. 

"So wait," Maze held up a finger. "Your name is David Collins?"

"Yeah."

"And you're an accountant?"

"Yeah." His eyes flicked over her, taking in the whole picture. Chunky knee high boots. Tight black pants. Something stringy over a strappy top. And her hair pulled up in two red tipped pigtails.

She sneered. "What kind of a Satanist name is David Collins? What happened to Chaosbringer, or Warlock, or at least a Damien?"

"I'm not that kind of Satanist."

"You're not even wearing leather pants!"

"No, but you are. And you wear them so much better than I would."

"David, meet Maze," Dan said by way of explanation. 

David's face went blank again. He rebooted after a moment. "She's awesome."

"I like him."

"And the chaos unfolds," Dan sighed.

"I like chaos," David countered.

"Me too," Maze agreed. They looked at each other and grinned.

"I should have seen this coming," Dan said. 

"I dunno, it's kinda cute," Ella smiled. She held up a box wrapped in shiny paper.

Linda grinned. "Go for it."

They spent a good while talking and fussing over the child, watching him fiddle with the beaded puzzle toy Ella bought him (to help with brain development) and then Linda said they should start on the food. They'd set up a kind of buffet on the dining table. Trixie led the way, followed by Lucifer and the rest, but Maze lingered and David sat watching her.

"Do you like sex?" she asked suddenly.

"I love sex," he answered. 

"You want have sex with me later? After the party, obviously."

"Yes. Hell yes."

"Awesome. Let's go eat."

Linda managed to claim a seat by Dan and Chloe while Lucifer was still filling his plate. “So how are the new living arrangements working out?”

“It’s only been a week and a half, but I think we’re good,” Chloe said, nodding.

“Yeah. It’s weird, but it’s good.”

“Weird how?” Linda pressed him.

“Because it’s like when we were married, but not. It’s just a house share. I’m still recovering, and I know I’m being looked after, and we have seperate rooms, but we’re still doing a lot of family stuff together like dinners and the school runs and buying food. But we haven’t had an argument yet.”

“That’s good. What about a difference of opinion?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you need to experience a bump in the road to know how you’re going to handle them. You won’t always agree on everything. It’s new, and you’ll both be putting in a lot of effort, but that will relax with time and there will be quarrels. That’s okay. I quarrel with Amenadiel and Maze too. Sometimes they quarrel with each other, which can be… loud. But what counts is that we try to understand each other and we’re able to make up and reach a compromise.”

Chloe’s head bobbed again. “We weren’t very good at the compromising stuff before. When I got mad at Dan, I would get demanding and push him into doing things where I knew he’d fail, just so I could yell at him.”

“You did that on purpose?” 

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“I never knew. I thought I was just being a really bad husband.”

“You weren’t great. Mostly because you just weren’t there. But I wasn’t always a good wife either.”

“I buried myself in work because it was easier. And because I was getting in deeper than I intended. I’m sorry about all that. And about lying to you.”

“Apology accepted. It’s a good thing you’re Lucifer’s now, because I know he won’t tolerate it if you do it again.”

“I won’t.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t talk to you. I’m sorry for bottling it all up until I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“It’s forgiven and forgotten.”

“See?” Linda said happily. “Conflict managed. And you’re always both welcome to come talk to me about any worries, as a friend who’s good at this stuff, knowing that I’ll make you talk it out. Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

“So have made any plans longer term?”

“We haven’t talked about it yet,” Dan said with an ironic twist of his lips.

“So…”

He took a deep breath. “I like living there. It’s a nice place. And I love that I don’t have to wait for a turn with Trixie, and that Lucifer’s always stopping by and we can all pile on the sofa like one big family. I like that he’ll just wander from your room into mine, still smelling of you, and wake me up in the middle of the night to make love to me. I like having breakfast all together.” He paused. “I don’t like that I still feel like a guest. I don’t like worrying that I’m going to mess up your stuff. I still feel like I have to ask permission to use the washing machine or whatever.”

Chloe placed a hand on his knee. “You can put your clothes in the basket with ours, so long as you do your share of helping with the laundry. You can’t mess anything up more than Trixie does. And, if you want to stay, which you would be more than welcome to do, maybe you should start bringing some more of your stuff over. We are constantly running out of mugs, for one thing. A few of your niknaks, your own books on the shelf, stuff like that, might make it feel more like home.”

“You want this to be permanent, don’t you?”

“I like having you around. Trixie _loves_ having you around. You’re much better at chores than you were. And I like when Lucifer comes into my room smelling of you too. We all seem happy. And honestly, the extra help with rent and bills would be good too.”

“I’ll think about it. Give me a few more weeks before I hand in my notice on my place though. Just to be sure.”

“Are my ears burning?” Lucifer asked as he sauntered up.

“Yes,” Chloe said. “We were just coming to the conclusion that Dan should stay with me for a while longer. And bring more than just his clothes and a toothbrush. You were one of the main features of the discussion.”

“Obviously. So, you’re moving in?”

“Semi-moving in.”

“I would join you, but there’s nowhere to keep my clothes, much less the piano.”

“Can we just put a pin in that thought?” Dan winced. “We’ve only been dating a few weeks.”

“Five,” Lucifer amended. “Not that I’m still counting.”

“Lucifer,” Linda looked at him, “what you’re suggesting is a huge commitment. "

"Oh, we're all very committed," he assured her.

"Yep," Dan agreed. "We both know we're stuck with him. But that doesn't mean we have to rush into living together. I still need an adjustment period. Especially with it all happening so suddenly, and the stuff with David, and getting kidnapped and shot. But I’m very committed.” He smiled at Lucifer and took his hand. Lucifer smiled back.

“Are you going to smite me if I say you guys are super cute?” David asked, joining them. 

“In present company, no. Anywhere else, probably.”

Maze set her plate on the coffee table and sat by Charlie on the floor, offering him sticks of carrot and cheese which he grabbed in his fists and munched alternately. David watched her, as if transfixed. “The demon and the angel baby. It’s beautiful.”

“You’re not getting broody, are you David?” Chloe asked.

“It’s not that. But she’s a demon. It’s the last thing she should be doing, but she’s doing it anyway.”

“I know. I blame my brother, he’s ruined her. She used to be my best torturer, and now look at her.” As if summoned, Amenadiel sat near her on the carpet, and then Trixie also joined in.

“Wait, Amenadiel and Maze are a thing?”

“Amenadiel and I are a thing,” Linda explained. “It’s fairly nebulous. Maze is a part of it, now and then, but she’s a free spirit and there’s no tying her down.”

“So I’m not going to upset anyone if I, um, take her on a date?”

“You want to ask her on a date?”

“She already asked me. And she didn’t use the term date. I said yes.”

Linda laughed. “I think I can guess. But no, you’re not treading on anyone’s toes. Enjoy yourself. But remember that it’s most likely a one-time kinda deal.”

David sank in his seat. “Even if it is, I think she might be worth breaking my heart over.”

Ella squeezed in beside them. "I sense gossip, what's going on?"

"Maze is taking David on a date," Chloe said.

"Does Maze even do dates?"

"No. The Detective is using 'date' a euphemism."

Ella's eyebrows shot up. "Dude! That was fast."

"I know. But she asked, and when else am I ever going to get the chance to 'date' an actual demon? Besides, she's like, super hot."

"Actual demon? I know she's a little unorthodox, and I respect your religion and all, but Maze is just Maze."

"What?" He turned to Dan. "But you said-"

Dan shook his head as emphatically and unobtrusively as possible. It didn't pan out. Ella noticed.

"What did you tell him?" she asked. 

David blinked and looked between them. "Wait, she doesn't _know?"_

"It's not- I mean… Lucifer help me out here."

Lucifer chewed his mouthful with a smile. "Hm. I'm rather intrigued to see how this conversation goes, actually."

"You're still a dick sometimes, you know?"

"I know. But you love me anyway."

"I'm sorry, Ella. The thing is, Lucifer is… well, I believe he's everything he says he is. I've seen enough weird stuff to know it's true. And maybe I should have said something about that sooner, but I felt like it was Lucifer's place to prove it to you when he thought you were ready."

She put down her plate and turned to Chloe. "Is he for real?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, Ella. I've known for a while longer, but it wasn't easy. And I wanted to tell you, really, but Lucifer was worried about how it might affect you."

"Linda? You're looking very poker faced."

"Client confidentiality. Sorry, not sorry. But it was his place to let you in on it."

"This is your strategy?" Lucifer moaned and dropped his own plate on the table. "You're all just going to throw me under the bus? I've been telling everyone since day one! It's not my fault nobody bloody believes me!"

Ella swallowed. She looked back at David.

"I'm a Satanist. Turns out the Devil was closer than I thought."

"So he just turns up and you believe him? You don't think it's weird?"

"Very weird. But he heard my prayers."

The whole room had gone quiet apart from Charlie's gurgling.

"Trixie?"

"It's okay, Ella. Lucifer's the Devil, but he's still Lucifer. And Maze is a demon, but she's still your friend and you don't have to be scared of her. And Amenadiel is a great big softie. And nobody said anything because you weren't ready to hear it."

"But apparently I am now."

"You stopped assuming you had the answer, and you listened," Linda said. "So yes, I think you were ready to hear it."

Ella nodded slowly, her hand went to the cross at her neck. "Holy crap."

"That about sums it up," Lucifer said. "Although, somewhat less than holy in my case."

"Lucifer," she said, as if testing out the word to see how it tasted. Not just an acting thing. Her mind leapt back to when he hinted about being abused. Cast out.

"Yes." He came to squat in front of her. "Miss Lopez, are you all right?"

"Yes, dummy!" she cried and threw her arms around him. He stiffened, surprised, and then relaxed and patted her back.

"I thought… this isn't how people normally react."

"Yeah, well, I'm not normal." She sat back and let him go. "Speaking of, are ghosts a real thing, or am I legit crazy?"

"Ah. That question came up quicker than expected too. You sure you don't want to start with something easier, like the actual age of the earth or who's the worst person I met in Hell?"

"If you expected the question that means you know something."

"Surely that's between you and her."

"Her? So you do know something!"

"Is this the part where I say 'no comment'?"

"Lucifer!" She punched him on the arm.

"She's my little sister. She popped in to see me last time she came to visit you."

"So I'm not crazy."

"No."

Ella breathed a sigh of relief. "She's a big fat liar then. But I kind of knew that."

"Which sister?" Amenadiel asked.

Lucifer smirked. "Azrael. Maybe we should invite her to the party, might spice things up a bit."

"No, please don't!" Ella said while Amenadiel looked stunned. "I'm not ready to deal with that part yet." 

“Yes, brother. Let’s not overwhelm the poor girl all at once.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re worried she’ll paint your feathers green this time. Does she even know about her nephewlim?”

Amenadiel winced at the bad pun. “Stop calling him that. It’s not even grammatically accurate, nephilim is a plural and you know it. And I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since he was born. Remiel sensed him though, so I imagine word’s getting around.”

“Good to know you’ve got the situation all in hand, brother.”

“Well I would have asked last time I went to Heaven, but Dad was so busy trying to figure out to save _you_ that He didn’t even mention His grandson!”

“Well, excuse me for taking Dad’s attention for the first time since I Fell!”

They both rose to their feet, squaring off against each other. Lucifer felt a wave of kindness flood him, try to calm him, but it only made him angrier. “Don’t you dare use prayers to try and manipulate my feelings!” he shouted, spinning around to face Chloe and Dan.

Charlie started crying.

Lucifer was breathing heavily, and everyone in the room was staring at him with wide eyes. Anger, astonishment, fear. Even Daniel. Dan was finally afraid.

Chloe stepped towards him. “Lucifer,” she held out a hand. “Come on, sit with me. Amenadiel, why don’t you take Charlie and get him calmed down. Ella and Trixie, you go with him.”

Amenadiel nodded, picked up his son and went silently to the bedroom. The girls followed. Maze grabbed David by the hand and dragged him to the kitchen. Lucifer reluctantly took a seat on the sofa between Linda and Dan. He looked completely frayed. Chloe knelt in front of him. “Talk to me.”

“I shouldn’t have shouted. I scared everyone.”

“I think we’re more surprised than scared. We all know you would never hurt any of us.” She took his hands and rested them on his knee. “Why did you lose it like that?”

“I think… I provoked him on purpose. I wanted to be angry.”

“Why?”

“Because he thinks he’s the perfect father. Because he dotes on that infant for no reason other than it’s his, and it… riles me.” 

Dan stroked his shoulder. “Are you jealous?”

“Pfft,” he mocked, but then slumped.. “Jealous doesn’t even begin to cover it.” He looked at Chloe, his face slowly crumbling. “You talked to Him. You found a way to save me. I thought I’d given up on ever hoping to win back His acceptance, but then He helps you get me out of there, and I… I don’t know anymore.”

“The last few weeks, with this case, have brought up a lot of issues for you,” Linda pointed out. “You’ve had a lot of personal things to deal with since you got back, and you’ve grown so much. Dan and Chloe have helped you accept yourself in ways that you haven’t been able to for a long time. It’s not such a stretch anymore to think that maybe your Father could accept you too.”

“I don’t want it! Or more precisely, I don’t want to want it. He hurt me. He abandoned me. What if I let my guard down and He does it again? Or what if He just takes me back like it never happened?”

“There are risks, it’s true,” Linda answered. “I’m not saying it will be an easy process. I’m not even sure how we would go about finding out. Maybe we just need to start talking about the fact that one day it could happen.”

“It will have to happen, sooner or later,” Lucifer said quietly. “I’ve tried to think of ways around it, but the outcome is inevitable.”

“The best we can offer you, is to make sure that when that day comes, you’ll be ready. You’re making connections with people. Deeper bonds than you’ve had previously. You’re learning how to love again, Lucifer, and that in itself is huge progress. More than that, you’re learning how to let people love you. You don’t need to be jealous of Charlie, because you have people who care about you- Chloe, Dan, Trixie, your friends, even David. We all did what we could to rescue you, including Amenadiel. He took a big risk going back to Heaven, but he did it for you.”

“I know. Perhaps I haven’t shown enough appreciation for that. But he doesn’t make it easy.”

“I know. But this is just a blip. And it’s raised some questions that we can deal with in more detail at my office, which is a positive outcome.”

“If you say so.” 

“I do. I’m proud of how far you’ve come, Lucifer.”

“Me too,” Chloe agreed. “And I know that whatever comes, we’ll face it all together.”

“Yeah, all of us,” Dan said. “You’re part of our family now too.”

“So long as the urchin doesn’t start calling me Dad too.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“So,” Linda said with all the cheeriness she could muster, “birthday cake?”

***

Maze looked at David like she was thinking about eating him. He caught her fingers in his and pulled her close enough that he could feel the warmth of her body. “I was wondering, after we’ve had sex, would you let me take you out on a date?”

She tilted her head sideways. “Don’t you humans normally want to do that the other way around?”

He shrugged. “That’s the tradition, yeah. But Linda said you don’t normally date, and I didn’t want you to feel pressured into it.”

“Pressured into sex? I suggested it.”

“Pressured into a date. We can have as much or as little sex as you want, no strings, but I think you’re awesome and I’d like to get to know you better.”

“Why? Because I’m a demon?”

“Well, yeah, I won’t deny that’s a part of it. Also, I do enjoy sex a lot, and I think we have that in common. But you intrigue me. Most humans spend half their lives trying to be what they think other people want them to be. I turned to Satanism because I was looking for the freedom to be whatever I wanted. And you- you seem to be so authentically and unashamedly yourself. Truly wild and unfettered, and it’s fucking gorgeous.”

“You think you can tame me?”

“I bloody hope not. But I do hope that you’ll choose to come back to me.”

She eyed him curiously. “I might consider it. If the sex is good enough.”

“Well, I did manage to make Lucifer go non-verbal.”

“You didn’t sleep with Lucifer. He’s all about his detectives. And now he’s got two of them. Ugh. It just gets worse.”

“I didn’t sleep with him directly, no. But like I said, he hears my prayers.”

“It is fun to mess around with his stuff,” she gazed up at the ceiling thoughtfully. David pulled her even closer so that they touched. She was a shade taller than he was in her heels. She tilted his chin up until she could feel his breath on her lips, and held him there. “After the party,” she whispered, and went back to join the others just as Linda came in. David watched her go with a sigh. 

“She does that on purpose, you know,” Linda said, getting the cake.

“What?”

“That thing with her derriere.”

“To be fair, she’s good at it.”

“She is. You okay?”

“Is this you checking up on the guy who wants to sleep with your girlfriend, or you being a good host?”

“It’s me not having a therapist off switch. You just saw the celestial brothers almost set my house on fire and then got cornered by a demon. Usually that kind of thing leaves some fallout.”

“I’m not a usual kind of guy.”

“I’m starting to realise that. You play the professional very well, I would never have guessed.”

“I like my job, it’s steady, it pays well, and the math is predictable. But it’s not the kind of environment where I can really be 'out' about my religion.”

“How strange is it? To meet the person you’ve been worshipping?”

“Did he tell you what happened?”

“I can’t discuss that.”

“Sorry, shouldn't have asked. I guess it took me a while to process, but I’m glad it happened. He’s not exactly what I expected, but then again, he’s just what I need. And now he’s claimed me, and it’s…” he sighed again. “It’s like I’ve finally got a real home.”

“I think you might be good for him, too. Just be careful, okay? And I’m saying this as a friend, because we’ve suddenly jumped to hanging out in the kitchen status, but he’s been through a lot.”

"You think I might get burned?"

"It's possible. I'm more worried he might get burned. Again. Lucifer won't hurt you." She turned and stuck a candle in the cake. "Maze, on the other hand… let's just say if you want to keep your insides on the inside, you better be good for my demon."

"I'll look after her, I promise." He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and offered it to her, and she smiled.

Trixie helped Charlie blow out his candle, and they all gorged on cake. Even Charlie had a share, and his hands and face were smothered in frosting by the time he’d finished. Amenadiel took him away to clean him up, and Trixie suggested they all play a game of pictionary. 

“How are we going to split the teams?” Dan asked.

“Cops versus civilians,” Maze suggested.

“Technically, I’m a civilian consultant.”

“You’re a cop, Lucifer, live with it. Ella you’re on their team too. David, you’re with me, Linda and Trixie.”

“You’re taking Trixie?” Chloe objected. “But she’s part of the cops family!”

“Are you going to take her on a case?”

“I guess not.”

“Then she’s with me.”

Amenadiel brought Charlie back and handed him to team civilians, then went to clear up the remains of the buffet.

It soon became obvious that Maze wanted Trixie on her team for her artistic abilities. She was not only good, she was speedy too. Surprisingly, Lucifer gave her a run for her money. His stick figures were quick to draw, and he’d spent so much time working with the three of them he knew exactly how to get them thinking along the same lines as he was. They were also all used to putting random bits of information together into something meaningful. Their difficulty lay in the fact that Dan couldn’t draw for toffee, and when it was Chloe’s turn to draw she tended to make things a bit too literal. She eventually caught on to Lucifer’s more open interpretations and in the end they claimed the victory. 

David eyed them suspiciously. "How did you guess vitamin?"

Dan showed him the page. "Look. Pills. Fred Flintstone. Vitamins."

"How would anyone guess that's Fred?"

"He's got a spotty dress and a tie!"

"That's a tie?" Lucifer queried.

"See! He doesn't know. You're cheating!"

"Are you accusing our Dark Lord, David?" Dan asked mockingly. 

"Okay, now I know you're cheating."

"How are we cheating?" Ella asked confused. 

"They're praying the answers to Lucifer!"

"Wait, is that a thing now?" She gasped loudly. "Can we send secret messages to Lucifer?"

"Do you really want to start praying to the Devil, Ella?" Dan said before Lucifer answered with the plain truth. The idea of Ella treating prayer as a game instead of the intensely intimate thing it was for him seemed… well, blasphemous.

"I guess maybe not. No offence. I can feel another crisis of faith coming on. Crap."

"It's okay," Chloe said, taking her hand. "We've all been there. We'll help you through this."

"It’s not imminent, but it’s there. Just, if I start freaking out at a later date, remind me of that fact.”

They packed up the board and fell into small groups, talking and drinking more wine. Linda took Dan to one side.

“Hey. We never did get back to unpacking your self-imposed silence the other week.”

“No, we didn’t,” he smiled.

“Do I need to book you in?”

“If so, it’s more likely to be about my recent experiences of being held captive. I still get flashes of panic, you know? But then Lucifer’s there, and he always calms me down. Makes me feel safe.”

“I can see that you love each other very much. I’m just concerned about the control you let him have over you.”

“See, that’s the thing. I let him. It’s always my choice. I’m still responsible for myself when it comes down to it, but I choose to make him my Master. And I made that choice way before we started having sex. It’s just that now, we can have more fun with it.”

“He told me about it, when you first asked. He was conflicted then. He doesn’t seem conflicted anymore.”

“He’s not a fan of mindless obedience. That’s not what I do. I’m giving him myself as a gift, consciously, willfully. To show him that I trust him, and that the things he does to me, the desires he has, aren’t evil. When I do what he tells me, when I submit, it’s an act of love.”

“Even when it hurts you?”

“Especially when it hurts me. Hang on, I’ll show you.” _Lucifer, come here a sec, I wanna show Linda something,_ he prayed.

Lucifer walked over. “You called?”

“How did you do that? Was that the prayer thing?” 

“Yeah. Dark Lord, I wanna show Linda how our thing works. I’ve tried explaining it to her, but I don’t think I’m saying it right.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Something small. There’s kids here.”

“Right. Close your eyes.”

Dan closed them, and Linda noticed how the tension seemed to dissolve from his body as he obeyed.

“Give me your hand.”

“Isn’t that Chloe’s song?” Dan said with a soft smile, but he held out a hand anyway.

Lucifer took it and gently cradled it, palm up, in his own. “It won’t be my heart that you’ll be feeling.” With his back to the others, blocking their view, he shifted his other hand until it was red and clawed. Linda drew in a shuddering breath. He glanced at her, and she nodded for him to proceed. 

Dan felt the roughness of his skin brush his arm as he pushed up his sleeve. He inhaled with anticipation. Three sharp claws dragged roughly down the inside of his arm, not enough to make it bleed, but enough to scratch the surface of the skin. He exhaled slowly, trying not to let out a whine, and his muscles rippled under the wave of pleasure.

Linda saw his reaction, saw Lucifer’s pupils widen with desire. She also saw the fondness in his eyes.

“You can look now,” Lucifer said, and when Dan opened his eyes there was a softness in his gaze, a lingering look that suggested a kiss. Or maybe a prayer, by the way Lucifer gasped. Dan lifted Lucifer’s clawed, burned hand to his lips and brushed it gently against them. Knowing what she knew of Lucifer, she saw how deeply meaningful and intimate the gesture was.

“Okay, I get it now, you can let go,” she breathed, feeling like an intruder all of a sudden.

Lucifer changed back, and the spell was broken. The two kept holding hands though.

Linda left them to it and went to see Chloe. She had drunk enough wine that she got straight to the point. “So, is having Dan moving in an attempt to keep Lucifer closer to home?”

“Sort of, but not like you think.” She was looking over at them, and Linda wondered if she’d caught some of the show. “There’s something very beautiful about what they have together. I just want to make things easier for all of us. And I do like having Dan around.”

Linda kept staring at her, and she started to blush. “What?”

“He was very adamant about the fact that it was just a house share. Is there something else going on?”

Chloe leaned her arm on the back of the sofa and faced Linda, a fist in her hair. “We’re both dating Lucifer. And… it’s Lucifer, so… you know. Sometimes we do stuff. Together. But not, like, all the way.”

“I think I have a suitably hazy picture. And you like that?”

“I do. Very much.”

“But you want more?”

Chloe heaved a big sigh. “I do. And Lucifer seems happy about the idea, but Dan has a way to go before he’s even ready to think about it. Hence his whole ‘roomies’ fixation.”

“He has been through a lot.”

“I know. And we’ve come a long way in a short space of time. I’m trying to be patient. Having him around all the time is wonderful, and it settles a lot of my urges just with him being there, but… I do want more.”

“He seems totally devoted to Lucifer.”

“They’re still in the honeymoon period. Hell, I’m still in the honeymoon period, it doesn’t seem to ever ease off with Lucifer. But Lucifer thinks he won’t be able to resist me in the long run. I hope he’s right.”

“What if he’s not?”

“Then I just have to keep loving him from a very short distance, and hope that eventually he falls back into the friend zone.”

“You are the bravest woman I have ever met.”

“It’s easy to be brave when you love someone that much. I’d do anything for Trixie, I’d do anything for Lucifer. Even risk getting my heart broken all over again. I know he’ll be there for me if that happens. But I still think, maybe it won’t.”

Linda squeezed her hand. 

At the end of the party, Trixie begged to stay so she could help get Charlie ready for bed and read him a story. Linda and Amenadiel said it was fine if she wanted a sleepover, they could drop her back in the morning. “But we’ll call first,” Linda added with a wink.

Maze drove David back to his own apartment. He left with a look of bewildered surprise on his face.

Dan and Chloe had both had too much wine to drive, so Lucifer took them both in Dan’s car. 

“Do I have to choose just one of you tonight?” he asked as they made their way upstairs.

“Hmm,” Chloe sighed happily. “Not if you don’t want to. I don’t mind sharing. Dan?”

“I’m happy with whatever Lucifer wants.”

“Lovely. Because I want to take full advantage of the fact that I don’t need to worry about being quiet.”

They went into Chloe’s room, and she sat on the bed watching as Lucifer took away Dan’s clothes and instructed him to stand and wait at the side of the bed. Then he turned to her with a grin, shedding his suit with the efficiency of practise, and helping her out of her own clothes. He laid her on her back and made love to her until she screamed with the pleasure of it, both of them glancing at Dan all the while, seeing him grow more and more aroused as they went on. Lucifer eased off as Chloe lay panting for breath, and he beckoned Dan to join them.

Their options were limited by Dan’s sore shoulder- he still couldn’t comfortably put any weight on it so anything on all fours was out. Lucifer kissed and caressed him tenderly, then settled him on his good side and lay behind him to make sure he was ready. Chloe watched their faces, the passion and the love, and she gasped as Lucifer lifted Dan’s leg and entered him slowly from behind. She wriggled her way closer and touched both faces, seeking Dan’s beautiful blue eyes and moving in to kiss him. He didn’t pull back or resist. He didn’t kiss back at first either, and for a heart wrenching moment she thought she’d got it wrong, but then he moaned and moved his lips, and his tongue was in her mouth, and she pressed her body up against his and it felt so close and so good. His hips were moving gently in response to Lucifer’s, his cock nudging against her belly. She thought how sweet it would be just to shift her hips and slide him inside, but he still hadn’t agreed to that yet and she wasn’t going to push him. She had this, and it was more than enough for now.

After a while Lucifer interrupted their kiss, lifting his head to seek her mouth with his own. His hands went to her waist and pulled her in tighter, his legs sliding between Dan’s to tangle with hers. His thrusts became harder, more urgent and it felt like he was making love to both of them at once. He dropped his head back to the pillow and Chloe cupped Dan’s face and held him while he was pushed against her over and over. She pressed her forehead to his and watched his expression twist as he tensed and released. She felt his wetness on her skin and revelled in it, and even though it was Lucifer’s name on his lips as he came, it didn’t sting because she was there and she was a part of it.

Lucifer thrust long and deep and Chloe could see the climax taking him too. He called out for Daniel, and he called out for Chloe, and they both turned and pressed their lips to his in the aftermath.

“Nobody bloody move!” he panted.

“Can’t,” Dan pointed out breathlessly.

“Don’t want to,” Chloe added. They all clung to each other while their breathing gradually evened out. Chloe thought she ought to reach for a tissue, but then Dan let go of Lucifer’s hip and his arm came to rest across her back. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and he squeezed her, just a little, just enough so that she knew he meant it, and then relaxed to hold her. She wanted to look up at him, to brush her lips against his, but she was afraid that if she did he would let go. So she stayed as still as she could, her fingers gently resting on his jawline, until he began to breathe deep and then snore.

Lucifer raised his head to look at her. “Happy, Detective?” he said in his softest voice.

“Yeah,” she replied, just as quietly. “Thank you for sharing him.”

“What’s mine is yours,” he smirked. “I don’t expect he’ll hold out too much longer. He still thinks you’re special. I’ll keep an eye on him. If he starts questioning his feelings I’ll just distract him sex, and he’ll fall back in love with you before he even realises it’s happening.”

Chloe stifled a giggle. “I don’t think that’s quite how it works.”

“Isn’t it? I fell in love with both of you without noticing. Luckily I have a very good, very patient therapist who helped me understand what was happening.”

“He’s going to notice,” she whispered. “And it’s going to make him feel all awkward.”

“You underestimate his capacity for denial. He’s been fighting some of his deepest desires most of his life. He still wants you. He just needs an adjustment period.”

Chloe smiled. If anyone understood desire, it was Lucifer. And Lucifer already knew more of Dan’s secrets than Chloe had managed to unearth in a decade. And that arm around her felt so wonderful, so right, she let herself believe that it could happen. Just for now. Just until the morning.

She drifted off, unsure when thoughts shifted into dreams, and awoke to the sound of soft, deep voices. They’d all moved around in the night and the arm was gone. She sighed at the loss and opened her eyes. Dan was lying on his front, his face turned towards her, and Lucifer was lying on top of him. She could tell by the looks on their faces and the movement of the sheets that they’d started without her.

“Lucifer Morningstar,” she said in mock outrage, “are you seriously screwing my ex in my own bed while I slept?”

“Yes,” he beamed. “Delightful, isn’t it?”

She groaned and moved over to kiss him. His hand slipped between her legs and into her core. She welcomed it. “This is a great way to wake up,” she admitted.

“I can make it even better. Daniel, I’ll need you on your back.” He pulled out and Dan rolled over very carefully. Lucifer lifted and spread his legs and worked his way back inside, a knee either side of his ass. “Detective, if you’d like to take a seat on his face- mind the war wound.”

“Which way?” Her fingers hovered over the marks on his chest. The star was healing to a crisp white line, but the gunshot was still a twist of pink and red. She wondered if it still hurt, and if he liked Lucifer touching it. 

“Your choice. Although it might be easier on his arm with your back to me.” She got into position and Dan's fingers slipped into her where Lucifer's had been. “There we are. Now our dear Daniel can service you while I bugger him.”

Chloe moaned and her head rolled back. Dan parted her wider with his tongue, finding her clit and sucking it gently. She decided the view was much better below than above, and watched him- his eyes staring up at her, filled with something ethereal but beautiful, his strong arms under her thighs.

She looked back over her shoulder to see Lucifer clutching Dan's legs to his chest, rocking his hips in that steady, untiring rhythm she knew so well. Dan's deep, muffled moans vibrated against her, and his tongue danced over her, and the climb towards her peak was steady and strong. It came quicker than she anticipated, and she crumpled forward as the ripples of pleasure waned. Dan moved quickly and caught her but whelped as it aggravated his shoulder. She dragged herself back up onto all fours and carefully found a seat lower down his body.

He gently raised her hips and worked his fingers back inside her. She groaned, her body straining once more. Dan was moaning too.

"Fuck, somebody please touch me!"

Chloe twisted a little and reached back, and he felt amazing in her hand, hard and throbbing.

"Fuck, Chlo!"

She gasped to hear him say her name at last. 

"Dan!" He still remembered exactly where to touch, how to touch. It was getting difficult to keep a grip as all three bodies writhed in unison, but then she felt her inner walls clamp down and he twisted his fingers just so in response, and she was crying out his name even louder as she unravelled once more.

There was no time to recover. She let go of Dan long enough to spit in her hand and then caught him up again. Lucifer leant in and kissed her neck and pushed harder. She moved in time with his thrusts, in time with their ragged breaths. Dan groaned again, and again, and Lucifer groaned with him, and Chloe was caught in the middle as they both came together, hard and loud. Her body tensed and stretched in a sympathetic wave of satisfaction. Her hand was wet. Her back was wet. Lucifer was leaning his head on her shoulder.

"Need to breathe," Dan gasped, and she rolled to one side and grabbed a box of Kleenex. She offered it to Lucifer who took a handful and shoved them below as he carefully pulled out. She cleaned Dan's front while Lucifer tended her back.

Dan's lip was curling up at one side. 

"What?" she asked.

"You two always did work well together."

Chloe collapsed in laughter beside him, and Lucifer lay down behind her. She was nestled snugly between them as Dan reached over her to hold Lucifer, and Lucifer put an arm around them both.

"We all work well together," he said. "We should do this more often, it's incredible."

"Have threesomes? Sure. Why not." She started giggling again.

"Look at you, my love. But I don't mean just the threesomes. I mean holding you both. Naked. Intimate. Close." 

"I'd like that too." She turned and kissed him, deep and tenderly, and then turned back to Dan. They looked at each other for a moment and then they kissed too, and it was sweet and full of promise.

"So," Dan mused when they separated, "just platonic friends who share a boyfriend, and a daughter, and a house, and sometimes a bed and orgasms and snuggles?"

She grinned. "Yes Dan. Exactly that."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again to my wonderful, who has been very busy recently. Partner in all things Douchifer, FluffyGlitterPantsDragon. <3 <3 <3


End file.
